** TLGBRS CONTEST OF ALL CONTESTS! WIN A BRAND NEW BARNES AND NOBLE NOOK SPONSORED BY BECCA FITZPATRICK, AUTHOR OF NYT BESTSELLER- "HUSH, HUSH" **

 

HERE IT IS!!  THE CONTEST OF ALL CONTESTS- MADE POSSIBLE BY THE LATEINER GANG AND BECCA FITZPATRICK, AUTHOR OF THE NYT BESTSELLER "HUSH, HUSH"

So, here is how it is going down... TLGBRS teamed up with BECCA FITZPATRICK to be able to make our grand prize winner one happy reader.  HOW ABOUT A BRAND NEW BARNES AND NOBLE NOOK & AN ACCESSORY PACK THAT TLGBRS WILL THROW IN??  HOW ABOUT A FEW RUNNERS UP GET THEIR OWN COPY OF "HUSH HUSH"?

That's what we have going on here.  Becca and The Gang are so excited about the Holidays and the New Year that we decided to run the Ultimate Contest of all Contests.

Every single one of us all wants one!  In our opinion, it is the coolest all around e reader that is currently on the market.  It is so backordered, that if you order one today online, it will not even ship out until Jan 15th, 2010!  Forget getting one in the stores, as their shipments have been delayed due to the overwhelming pre ordering.  The Nook is EXTREMELY HARD to come by, and yes, we are giving one away right here!

Learn About The Nook By Clicking On The Pic Below:

NOW, FOR THE CONTEST!

Since the current estimated shipping date for a Nook pre ordered now is currently January 15th, 2010 we are going to make this contest run until the beginning of February. The contest will end at exactly 11:59 p.m. on Friday February 5th, 2010. Then we can begin to get to work on filtering through the entries and picking our lucky grand prize winner and our runner up winners. The contest will be open to those in the US as well as Internationally!

The Entry Rules:

FIRST RULE AND MOST IMPORTANT: YOU MUST BE A FOLLOWER OF OUR SITE. THIS MEANS THAT ON OUR RIGHT SIDEBAR, YOU CAN CLICK "FOLLOW" TO FOLLOW OUR SITE ON GOOGLE FRIEND CONNECT. ALSO, PLEASE MAKE SURE TO LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS. THERE WILL BE NO EXCEPTIONS. IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR NEED HELP, PLEASE EMAIL US AT TLGBRS@GMAIL.COM


***It is VERY important that you follow the rules exactly as they are stated. Look at dates, look at types of posts... This time around with a big contest it's very simple, if we see that you do not follow directions, your entire entry will be voided, no exceptions. It is very hard to count entries with a contest that will ne this big. We are doing our best to bring you awesome contests.... the least you can do back for us is follow our directions.***

We are going to have some easy entries and some that involve some work and effort. For your efforts, if you choose to dedicate yourself to gaining entries, you will be rewarded. Remember, we pick our winner with www.random.org, so the more entries you have, the more your odds increase of winning. That said... you only need the right 1 to win!

Please Read ALLThe Ways To Gain Entries To Our Contest!

THE "EASY" ENTRIES

+2 For Current Followers (Membership has it benefits!)

+1 For New Followers

+1 For Commenting On Any REVIEW, INTERVIEW, OR SUNDAY SCOOP POSTS ONLY from the post that follows this one until the one before we officially end the contest.

THE "SOME WORK INVOLVED" ENTRIES

+3 For Every New Follower You Get That Joins Up To Follow Us Through Your Efforts. They Need To Mention In Their Entry That You Sent Them. (However you get people to sign up to follow, whether it be blogging about our contest, tweeting, facebooking, handing out fliers, taking out an add in the local paper... whatever you do, extra entries will only be awarded for the followers you bring, (NOT each individual method of recruiting them i.e. blogging, tweeting, etc.)

+3 If You Have Purchased And Read "Hush, Hush" Prior To Today December 7th 2009, & Post (or re-post) A NEW REVIEW (One created after today's date, Dec. 7th, 2009) & Link It Back To Our Contest.

THE "MORE WORK, MORE REWARD" ENTRIES

+ 20 For Each One of You Who Purchases A Copy Of "Hush, Hush" By Becca Fitzpatrick & Emails Us (tlgbrs@gmail.com) A Copy Of Your Receipt. The date on the receipt must be dated after today- Monday December 7th, 2009.

+5 More Extra Entries If You Purchased The Book & Submitted The Receipt To Us, Review It On Your Site, & Link Our Contest To THAT Review.

**THE "EASY, FUN" ENTRIES**

Read this entry carefully as it is easy to gain entries, but you must follow what the instructions are...

+1 for each day you complete this following task... Entries are to be added at the end of each week in 1 comment by you...
On our right side bar, we have a green "google advertisements" box with little forward and backwards arrows to scroll through the few ads they have up there.  Every day or so, they update the current ads (appx 5-6 at once).  IF you are interested in checking out the ads, and if you click on all of them, we will give you +1 for each FULL SET that you click on.  So, for example, of you check them out today, and then they are updated to new ones again Thursday, and you clicked on all of those new ones, then Sunday, you can come and give yourself +2 for the week in the comments section.  If let us say that 3 times in that week ,the ads are updated, and you click on them and check them out all 3 times, you can get a +3 at the end of the week. As we know how many sets of ads go up per week and who click on them to view them, we will check.  You are responsible to add your Extra Entries each Sunday.  THIS IS A FUN, EASY WAY TO GET ENTRIES, AND IT ALSO GIVES YOU A GOOD WAY TO CHECK OUT SOME ADS THAT WE HAVE DIRECTED MOSTLY TOWARDS THE BLOGGING, READING, PUBLISHING, BOOK INDUSTRY.

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS FORM OF ENTRY, PLEASE CONTACT US BEFORE YOU PROCEDE @ TLGBRS@GMAIL.COM

SO, Not too difficult. For those of you who are dying to get your hands on one, we have set you up with some work to do, but as you can see, the reward is definitely worth the work! We have given those of you the opportunity who wish to PURCHASE THE BOOK 2 links below that will take you directly to be able to get the book at a really low, on sale price. It can be a Holiday Present for a loved one, a Holiday Present that you treat yourself too, or just an awesome read that you have wanted to pick up for a while and haven't had the chance to do so yet. You can purchase "Hush, Hush" by Becca Fitzpatrick by clicking on the picture below, which will take you directly to the book on Barnes And Noble Online. As well, you can click the link below that to purchase the book directly from Amazon dot com.

To Learn More About "Hush, Hush" by Becca Fitzpatrick, Read about Book 2 in the series "Crescendo", view her blog, bio, or just check things out... you can click HERE and go directly to Becca's website!


We want to thank Becca Fitzpatrick for donating the Nook for our Super Contest. It was AWESOME of her! We will be featuring Becca and "Hush, Hush" throughout the duration of the contest. We wouldn't be us if we didn't throw in a few mini-contests along the way for some copies of "Hush, Hush"!! We are going to be re posting our review of "Hush, Hush" in a few days followed by an Interview with Becca in a few short weeks!


THIS IS THE ONE PEOPLE! THE MOTHER OF ALL CONTESTS! A BRAND NEW BARNES AND NOBLE NOOK CAN BE YOURS! MANY WAYS TO ENTER, SO WE HOPE TO SEE YOUR NAME ON THE ENTRY LIST!


As always... questions, comments, or for a weather update email us at tlgbrs@gmail.com

UPDATE ON NOOK CONTEST- IT'S A GO! READ THIS TO FIND OUT MORE!

So you guys wanted TLGBRS to top their Mega Contest?  Well how about that "Nook" we have been talking about....

So here's the deal.  We had a private donor for a Nook for you guys, (and they will be available for another contest later on) but then we got to thinking... Hhmmm, wouldn't it be nice to get someone connected to the industry to sponsor our SUPER CONTEST Giveaway for a Brand New Nook????  Someone who  has lived the dream of making it to the top!  

Well, who did we get?  We got an author that we have reviewed on our site before.  One who is going to be featured on our site throughout the contest.  One who wrote an awesome book that debuted on the New York Times Best Seller List!!

So, WHO IS IT????????

Well, she wrote the awesome book "Hush, Hush" and has part 2 of the series, "Crescendo" scheduled to come out in 2010.  Still don't know???  It's NYT Best Selling author Becca Fitzpatrick!

Thats right, Becca is going to sponsor our SUPER CONTEST where we will give away one brand new Barnes and Noble NOOK!

We will be re publishing our review of "Hush, Hush" sometime this week with the start of the SUPER CONTEST!  There will be an interview with Becca, as she will be featured on our site for the duration of the contest, which means some mini contests where we give away some copies of "Hush, Hush"! If you have read "Hush, Hush" then you know how awesome the book was and why it deserved to debut where it did.  If you have not yet read it, we will make it worth your while to do so! 

Now, there is some solid news for you guys!  Thanks Becca for agreeing to do this for TLGBRS and our fans!  We are SOOO appreciative.

More to come this week.  We are currently working out the details with Becca and will have the contest started real soon!  

Thanks to Becca Fitzpatrick and to all of you out there for allowing us to do what we love!

Dave, Mara, Lauryn, and Sami

THE LATEINER GANG

"Sunday Scoop" The Gang's Weekly Column

SUNDAY SCOOP

(our earliest posted ever!)

What's Been Going On @ TLGBRS??

read on for another TLGBRS

It's good to be back to you guys....  Sorry about the "missing" Scoop from last week. The Gang had a long busy week this past 7 days!  Work, doctor's appts (5 collectively!), school activities, our first winter snow storm, and holiday shopping (Mara and the girls have been busy little bee's!) 

Here's 1 of our Menorahs and a few cool looking ones we found on google.

 <------1 of ours

Just a little shout out and a Happy Hanukkah to all of you that will be getting out your Menorahs this week.  We are going to try and find some whacky Christmas Trees when we get closer to the big day! 

 Got a cool Christmas tree or Menorah (or even "outside" decoration set) you'd like to share with us? 

Feel free to submit a pic of your own Menorah or Christmas tree to us and we will post them in an upcoming Scoop!  Mail pics directly to us at tlgbrs@gmail.com for submission.  Heck if enough of you submit your pics of your own holiday treasures to us, we may have to even turn it into a Lateiner Gang .... 

 How about if we get a min 10 pics from you guys and we turn it into a little giveaway??  Let's say the winner will get a book mailed out like all the other winners from the Mega Contest...  So let's say, an extra winner for the Mega Contest... Yeah,

IF we collect at least 10 entries of your own treasures, we will add another name to the list of winners from the Mega Contest and you will get a prize book shipped to you.  Let's say that all pics MUST be in our email no later than 11:59pm (est) on Saturday Dec 19th, 2009.  Cool, another contest.  This is fun!

*SPEAKING OF CONTESTS, ANYTHING NEW COMING TO TLGBRS?*

Check back later on today for the contest that we think will get you guys most excited... How about a giveaway for a Barnes and Noble "NOOK"?  Anyone interested in winning a  Nook??  Well, we are interested in giving one away!  We finally got a thumbs up from an anonymous sponsor who is doing such a wonderful thing (we are begging him/her to let us post their info, but they are the "quiet" type) and offered to sponsor a giveaway of a Nook!  As well, we are working on a few other sponsors, so we can decide whether to make this an exclusive contest or not.  The contest will probably run for a while, as it is shipping mid January now for Nook's pre ordered customers.  And as far as the store, it isn't happening for a long while!  SO, since one ordered over the next week or so won't probably even be shipped until late Jan-early Feb, we have some time to let you guys build up your entry numbers and will prob run this one until around the beginning of Feb.... we will see, but it will be posted later in the week (asap), so don't wander too far away!  ALSO, for those of you who receive our TLGBRS EMAILS, we will be sending out another email for the launch of our (to be called) "Super Contest".  We hope that the Mega Contest was only a small bit of excitement compared to the amount you will have with the Nook Giveaway!  We plan to make this contest fun, with some interesting ways to get some extra entries!

**EXISTING CONTESTS**

We currently have contests running for 2 different books that the Gang absolutely LOVED! First, we have a signed copy of an ARC of "Candor" by Pam Bachorz (ENDING IN LESS THAN A WEEK!)  Also, we have a signed copy of "Adventurers Wanted: Slathbog's Gold" by M.L. Forman as well as a copy of the Audio Book also donated by Forman (ENDING IN A TAD UNDER 2 WEEKS!)   To enter both of these, go to our "Contests" Page by clicking HERE.  You can also click the "Enter to Win" sign above.

Well, we don't have much more to say for now except get ready for the Holidays, read, and enjoy this awesome time of year.  We want to be able to share this time with all of you guys!

Speaking of sharing..

 We had our first winter snow storm this weekend.  It wasn't big by any means, but it was still the first of the season.  We took a picture of a house we absolutely LOVE!  It is in a section of our town called "Short Hills" and is a house we would love to own one day!  As soon as we can come up with probably $10 million dollars, we can see if they are willing to sell!  The house is much bigger than it appears. (twice as wide, hidden on the right by trees from this angle) It was hard to get a shot in the snow while passing by so there is probably half the house missing!  If you look on the right side of the pic closely, you an catch the side attachment hidden behind the trees.  Such an awesome pic of the house in the first snow fall, we thought we'd share it with you guys..

Until Next TIme....

David, Mara, Lauryn, and Sami

Your Lateiner Gang

The Gang Has Been Working Hard For You.... READ ON, A SUPER CONTEST IS ON THE WAY!

Yes, we have been hard at work for you guys, and yes it has paid off!  We will get to that in a minute.... First a few words...

As far as the winners for the Mega Contest are concerned, those who have submitted your information as we requested will hopefully have your books real soon!  As for those of you who have not responded, we sent out a reminder email to whomever we could find an email address for (we didn't spend hours looking, sorry).  We will hold your prizes for another week (next weekend) and then decide whether to pick different winners or what to do.

We also have some reviews coming up.  We have had a long, busy week as we are sure you all have due to the holidays.  Regardless, we have been reading and will have some posts up shortly.

NOW... what have we been working on for you guys?

We have dropped little hints here and there, but for fun, ask yourself this, "If I LOVED to read, what would make my life so much easier and be such a cooler way to read??"

(Jeopardy music playing in background)

Ok, give up??

We have mentioned before that we were working on a special surprise for you guys.  Yes, we had a "Mega" contest, but what defines "Mega?"

Is it giving away a bunch of books?  Is it giving away an awesome gift card? Perhaps.... but would, let's say... an E-Reader giveaway be considered a "Mega" contest?

If so, then we guess you are in the right place.  Yup, we did it.  We secured a donation of a brand new "NOOK", the brand new E-Reader from Barnes and Noble.  

Yes, a brand new "Nook" will be given away at The Lateiner Gang Book Review Spot.  THIS IS NOT THE CONTEST ENTRY POST, SO DO NOT PUT YOUR ENTRIES HERE!!!

We will probably post the contest later on this weekend, but here is what has occurred...  We have found a VERY generous sponsor, who wishes to remain anonymous (for now we hope) who is willing to give a Nook to one of our lucky readers!  This is not any kind of "corporate sponsored" giveaway.  Nope, it is an individual who believes very much in the power of books, the power of reading, and the power of knowledge.  For this reason, they have agreed to do this.  

There are some kinks we are trying to work out.  First of all, the Nook is so back ordered that even if you were to pre order one today for yourself, it would not ship until mid January (currently Jan 15th!).  Therefore, we are going to estimate that whomever does win, will probably not see the Nook until early February.  Also, we are trying to figure out exactly what the "entry" requirements will be.  This is a Super Contest, so we want to make sure we set the rules right the first time (and also somehow a bit easier on us this time around!)

Keep your eyes glued to our site, because we will be posting the SUPER CONTEST for the new Barnes and noble Nook e-reader before the weekend is up!

What Would YOU do for a Klondike Bar?

So, as many of you know, we always end our author interviews with our signature "Lateiner Gang" question.... "What would you do (authors name) for a Klondike Bar?? 

Well, there was some breaking news in the klondike bar to-do's...Apparently, they ran out of foil, (yes this was a very important event!) which was used to wrap each individual bar.  It is temporarily being replaced with plastic wrappers.  Below, klondike is apologizing for the inconvenience it is causing us all!  We thought it was important news for of 2 reasons.. 1. because its newz you just NEED to know, right? and 2. because it tells you that the Gang actually keeps klondike bars in their freezer.  Here is a pic of the "temp" wrapper that we pulled out of the box: (click on image to blow it up to be able to read it more clearer)
  

As always- questions, comments, concerns, invitations for the Gang to your birthday party.... email us tlgbrs@gmail.com

The Lateiner Gang

WINNERS OF THE MEGA CONTEST AND MORE!

DRUM ROLL PLEASE....

PLEASE SEE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW IF YOU ARE A WINNER!  ALSO, THE LIST WILL BE FOLLOWED BY A LIST OF THOSE OF YOU WHO WON THAT CONTEST A FEW WEEKS AGO FROM THE SCOOP. INSTRUCTIONS APPLY TO YOU AS WELL, SINCE THE BOOKS WERE NOT RE-SENT OUT YET.  WINNERS WERE PICKED BY THEIR USERNAME, AND WERE RANDOMLY SELECTED BY WWW.RANDOM.ORG.  A FEW OF YOU WON THE MINI CONTEST AS WELL AS THE MEGA.  IT WAS RANDOM, AND ONE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE OTHER.

AND THE WINNERS OF THE MEGA CONTEST ARE:

Pixie

Melanie Goldmund

throughthehaze

lindsays photographys

Jenny

Elnice

nikki a haunt of ancient peace

Ashley

Laura Hartness

Jess (find the time to read)

joe faraggo

peter lewis

kristinjames

bookweirdo

sandrastiles

mitz

buukluvr

jenn m

donnas

chelsea S

Andrea (buried in books)

Emily C.

rexrobotreviews

dannie

thetruebookaddict

Lauren (crammedbookshelf)

inabox

thebookvixen

ladystorm

mariah

THE WINNERS OF THE MINI CONTEST THAT WE HELD ARE:

LADYSTORM

LAURA

BRIZMUS

LOGANKSTEWART

MAGENTA

THEBOOKVIXEN

ANN DIANA DINH

FREDAMANS

DEB

OK, to make our lives simple, please do the following...

If you see your name on the list, please send us an email to the following email address (only for this contest, otherwise use the regular tlgbrs@gmail.com) 

mrdlatts@gmail.com (use this for this email!)

Please include- 1. your ID (the above names) to let us know who you are, 2. include your real name and address, and 3. your email address as well (we know it will be sent from you, but please include it in the email as well) **ALSO REMEMBER- the contest was open to U.S. residents only, with the exception of 2 people, who made other arrangements with me prior (you all were able to do that if you read the contest rules) and I think 1 of them actually won!  You know who you are, just remind me that we approved you!

There are some of you who we know your info, but for our tracking, and to make life easy on us, please just humor us and send us the email as well, with all of your info.  It will help us to keep track better.  As we get your info, we will mail out your envelopes.  Some contain one book, some contain 2, and some contain 3.  Also, do not forget, 1 lucky envelope will have the Apple Gift Card in it!  Currently it is in a book in an envelope, which is sealed so we have no idea who is going to get it.  THe only clue we really have is that it was sent in an envelop which contained only 1 book.  It is tucked inside the front cover and we used fun tack (did I say that right?) to make it stick to the book.

Thank you for all of your patience.  Believe it or not, we ended up at the Verizon Wireless Store AGAIN tonight!  3 of the 4 new phones were broken AGAIN!  This was crazy, as they did not want to fix them, and still have not.  Never fear, replacements are on the way.  For that reason, no Sunday Scoop this past Sunday.  It will return next week.  Please keep your eyes open for some info coming up later this week.  

LASTLY, PLEASE GO AND ENTER OUR 2 NEW CONTEST CURRENTLY RUNNING, "CANDOR" AND "ADVENTURERS WANTED: SLATHBOG'S GOLD"!!!!!

As always, questions.... tlgbrs@gmail.com and CONGRATS TO OUR WINNERS!  WE HAVE SOME COOL CONTESTS COMING UP AS WELL AS WHAT WE HAVE GOING ON CURRENTLY!

THE LATEINER GANG

**TRIPLE THREAT** REVIEW, INTERVIEW, AND CONTEST! "-Adventurers Wanted- Slathbog's Gold" by M.L. Forman

***LADIES AND GENTS... TLGBRS IS PROUD TO PRESENT WHAT WE COINED AS A "TRIPLE THREAT"- REVIEW, INTERVIEW, AND CONTEST of M.L. FORMAN'S "ADVENTURERS WANTED- SLATHBOG'S GOLD"***

DO YOU HAVE THE COURAGE, THE WITS, AND THE SKILL TO CLAIM A DRAGON'S HOARD? IF SO, APPLY WITHIN...

The sign is small, tucked into the corner of Mr. Clutter's bookshop window: "Adventurers Wanted, Apply Within."  No one but fifteen-year old Alex Taylor even seems to notice it there.  And for Alex, who has wished for a change in his life, it is an irresistible invitation.

Upon entering Mr. Clutter's shop, Alex is swept away on an incredible adventure to a faraway land filled with heroic warriors, mysterious elves, and hard-working dwarves.

Alex becomes the eighth man in a band of adventurers seeking the air of Slathbog the Red-an evil dragon with a legendary treasure.  Along the way, Alex and his new friends must battle dangerous trolls and bandits, face undead wraiths, and seek the wisdom of the Oracle in her White Tower.

Alex's adventure takes him to distant and exotic lands where he learns about courage, integrity, honor, and, most importantly, friendship.

MY REVIEW: 

I get those advertising emails from Amazon telling me "since you read this book, we thought you would enjoy reading these." Then they give a short list of other books that besides being in the same Genre, I have no idea where they get the idea that I would at all be interested in them! Even so, I still take the 2 minutes to look at the titles. Well, am I glad I did! What a fantastic book. Now, I know that we only review books we really liked to ones we loved, but there are also degrees involved in that too. If I had to compare and re rate only 5 star books, this one would get 5 stars out of that list!  This is going to be a series and I plan to read each and every one of them. Ok, so i suppose you'd like to know what was sooo good??

The book starts where Alex, who lives with his stepfather and stepbrother, goes for a stroll. He walks by Mr Clutter's book shop and sees a sign in the window that keeps changing its message every time Alex looks at it. It is a sign for "adventurers wanted" which draws Alex in. When he meets Mr. Clutter inside, he is told that he has been chosen to go on an "adventure." Everything happens so fast that between Mr. Cutter, an elf named Arconn and a dwarf named Thrang, Alex finds himself committed to going on this adventure in some far off magical land before he even really knows what is going on. Although they leave immediately (through a magical door in Mr Cutter's shop) whatever time passes while off on this adventure, if and when Alex returns home, it will be as though he never left. No time in his world will have passed.

Now Alex goes with the dwarf and elf and meets the rest the adventure's company that he will be traveling with. With Bragnest at the lead of the company, this had to be one of my favorite group of characters in a book yet. As a matter of fact, EVERY character that Alex and his company meet during their adventure was extremely well written and I enjoyed reading about all of them.  I can honestly say that there was not one person at all that I did not find overly interesting and didn't feel like I knew them personally. The way that Forman developed the strong relationships within the company while still keeping the respect for their ranks was great as well.

The adventurer's all sign a contract before going outlining the rules and the agreements between the company.  For instance, there are certain ways that treasures are to be split if they are found on the way to their final destination. That final destination by the way, happens to be the den of Slathbog, an enormous, vicious dragon that is feared throughout all the lands. With such a fear, comes a most massive treasure.  One that many will dream of, but few will attempt to go after.  That is the goal of this company, to defeat Slathbog, and return with his treasure.

There was just the right amount of magic throughout the book as well. Not only that, but most of it was original and very creative.  What fascinated me was that each adventurer carried a "Magic Bag" with them. These bags played a big role in the story and oh how I wish I could own one!  Each magic bag was basically a leather bag that was carried over the adventurer's shoulder.  Each adventurer had a secret password that they would whisper into their bag.  Only the adventurer himself and his heirs knows the password to each of their bags.  When the password was whispered correctly into the bag, the person was transported into the bag, which was almost described i'd say like a little house. Each bag contained different rooms, from storage rooms to ice rooms to keep their food stored in the cold for long journeys, to a wonderful thought out treasure room.  As the adventurer collected treasures and other items along the way, they were simply transported into the bag by the adventurer stating which room to put them in.  The treasure room, a most amazing room, expands as more and more treasure is deposited into it, with no size limit.  As you become a more experienced adventurer, you can purchase more unique add on rooms to your magic bag.

Another wonderful piece of magic was Alex's sword, "Moon Slayer".  Made by Elves hundreds of years ago, the sword was very special. It choose Alex to be its owner.  Not much of the swords history was revealed, but it was a legendary sword that contained special magic and it's previous owners were special and powerful. It had a certain glow to it that reminded the company of the glow of night, the glow of the moon. When in the hands of the right person, the one it chose to be it's master, it created a unity between the bearer and itself. A burning fire within Alex for victory formed when he and his sword met any enemy.

Here is a bit of how Alex's character develops throughout the book. When Alex first goes to buy his weapon with Andy, the second member of the company, Alex had to be "fitted" to see what type of weapon was suited for him. The shopsman told them that Alex was fitting for staff as one of the weapons he could choose.  The staff was a weapon of a wizard. The sword, "Moonslayer", was a weapon suitable for a warrior.  Forman's development of Alex's character is not only engaging, but exciting as well. Although Alex is not so confident that he is capable of becoming a great wizard and warrior, he never stops trying and continues to learn and gain knowledge throughout the adventure.  He learns about all the different plants used to make potions the entire journey.  Also, he studies books on magic and learns to work with magic more and more with the constant help of Arconn and others he meets along the journey.  This magic and his warrior instincts along with "Moonslayer" has Alex defeating many enemies throughout the journey including a 3 legged giant troll, a group of bandits, and the wraiths, who are basically dark spirits that try to lure Alex to the "dark side" so to speak.

Another great aspect of the story is the different villages, kindoms, and places that the company travels through.  Forman has done a marvelous job at creating so many little worlds, each giving you a full understanding of their customs and heritage.

Now, I will tell you that although I do not consider it a spoiler as I'm sure you would guess that Slathbog is defeated at the end, and his treasure is far greater than any had imagined.  What I will not tell you is how he is defeated.  Although a quick defeat, it was nothing short of a nail biter.

So many wonderful things packed in one book, there is many lessons as well.  Honor is big in the book as well as trust and friendship.  The bond that the company shares as well as the bonds that are formed with certain characters along the way are well created, truly strong, and will last for a very long time.

The very end of the book, when the adventure is finally over and it is time to go home (for now) holds a great twist.  The very last page of the book throws a curveball to the reader leaving you speechless and wondering.  There are promises from Forman of many more adventures to come.  I believe book 2 is due out in the spring of 2010. There is no doubt that I will be pre ordering that one and re reading Slathbog's Gold in the days leading up to the release.

A fantastic read, I did not find myself bored at a single page.  I would say that if you are interested in a great tale filled with action, adventure and one that is truly engaging every step of the way, please read this one.  Although a fantasy, it was not complicated, yet very fulfilling. Id love to hear anyone's opinion who has read this.

I am trying to get a hold of Mark Forman to hopefully get him to allow us an interview for the site as well as discuss the story and future adventures with us.  He is not easy to find, but I'm doing my best!  Mark, if you are out there and read this, please find me!

For a peek at the official "Adventurers Wanted" site, click HERE.

THE INTERVIEW:

TLGBRS- Mark, "Adventurers Wanted, Slathbog's Gold" was a fantastic book. Where did you come up with the idea for the story?

MLF- When I started writing Slathbog’s Gold I was unemployed and looking for work.  While I was looking through the help wanted adds I started to think about jobs you would never find in a newspaper or online.  How cool would it be to find a job that let you go on an adventure?  Alex wasn’t looking for a job at the time, but the sign in the window was a magical kind of help wanted sign.

TLGBRS- "Adventurers Wanted" is slated to be a series. I can definitely envision this becoming a multi-book series with many different adventures. Currently, do you have a goal for how many books you would like to include in the series or is it really up in the air at this point?

MLF- The number of books in the series is up in the air right now.  Mostly it will depend on how many the publisher is willing to put out.  Currently I’m finishing up some changes in book two of the series, and books three, four, and five are in various states of completion.  As long as people enjoy reading the stories, and as long as I can get someone to publish them, I’ll keep writing.

TLGBRS- Follow up to #2...Although each book in the series will probably contain a different adventure, would it be safe to say that throughout the series, the adventures will revolve around Alex Taylor, the main character, and will follow him through maturing to become a great wizard/warrior?

MLF- Alex is the main character in the stories I’ve worked on so far.  I’ve left this open so other characters can be created and have adventures of their own.  Alex may or may not be an important part of future stories, but for now he is the main character.

TLGBRS- When you write a new adventure, do you have the adventure pretty much mapped out in your mind and sort of fill in the blanks or do you just start an adventure and see where your writing takes you?

MLF- Most of the adventures start with the main idea or the title of the story.  I know what the goal of the adventure will be but not much more.  I’ve tried mapping stories out from start to finish, but that doesn’t work for me.  The stories take on lives of their own as I write them, and so I try not to force them down a set path.

TLGBRS- Can you tell us anything at all regarding your next book in the series "The Horn of Moran" due out in the spring of 2010?

MLF- That’s a tough one.  I don’t want to give too much away, but I will say that some of the old faces will be back.  I couldn’t send Alex off on his second adventure without a few of his friends.

Alex and his friends are sent to recover the Horn of Moran, a magical horn that will only sound for the true king.  There are questions about who should be the King of Athanor, and if the horn is not returned soon there will be war.  It’s a race against time, and time is running out.

TLGBRS- I'm sure you get questions about this all the time, but the adventurers all carry a "magic bag", which is very important and symbolic in the book. This has been one of, if not the most creative tools/accessories any character has ever had in all the books I have read. How on earth did you come up with that one? Also, for those who have not read your book yet, give them a brief description of what a "magic bag" is.

MLF- The idea for the magic bag came mostly because I needed a way for the adventurers to carry all their gear, food, and treasure without taking a lot of extra help along.  It was a simple solution to a giant problem, and I’m happy that it worked out so well.

For those who haven’t read the story, magic bags look something like a small postman’s bag made out of leather.  They are easily carried over the shoulder, and if you look inside it the bag will be empty.  For the adventurer who owns the bag, the inside of the bag can have as many rooms as he can afford to put in it.  Magic allows the inside of the bag to be much larger than the outside, so adventurers can carry almost anything they need with them in a very small space. 

TLGBRS- At the very end of "Slathbog's Gold", there is a HUGE twist to the story that I don't think anyone who has read it was expecting. Based upon that twist, will any of the books in the series possibly take us back to an adventure or a time that occurred before Alex's time?

MLF- I’ve thought about going back in time for an adventure or maybe several adventures, but I haven’t done any work on a story like that yet.  I’ve also given some thought to writing some short stories that would help fill in the past, but nothing solid yet.

TLGBRS- Mark, do you have any plans or thoughts about either a stand alone novel or perhaps a different series that you are either working on or thinking about?

MLF- I have a few different projects in the works.  I’ve mostly finished a story called, “Seeds of Power,” which will be the first book in a trilogy.  I plan on editing that as fall moves on, and I will hopefully have it off to a publisher by the end of the year.  I’ve also been working on another story that I hope will become a series, but it’s not too far along yet.

TLGBRS- Tell us something that nobody has asked you before. Something unique about yourself that you would like to share with everyone who reads this interview.

MLF- Can’t do that…  Writers and wizards should always keep some secrets, and so I’m keeping that secret. ;-p

TLGBRS- What would you, Mark L Forman, author of "Adventurers Wanted, Slathbog's Gold" do for a Klondike Bar???

MLF- I’d wrestle a three legged troll for a Klondike Bar.

Thanks Mark for the interview!  I LOVED Slathbog's Gold... As a matter of fact, I had reviewed this earlier on in our site, but wanted to do it again to re introduce it to our newer fans!  Also, thank you for the donations to our CONTEST, which is coming up NOW!

THE CONTEST

So, You guys like CONTESTS and GIVEAWAYS, do ya??

Well, Mark has been awesome enough to offer up to our gracious fans 1 signed copy of "Adventurers Wanted- Slathbog's Gold" AS WELL AS an audio copy for another lucky winner!  So, we will have 2 winners!  The Contest will run until 11:59pm EST on Saturday December 19th!

Here's what you can do to get entries:

**FIRST**- our # 1 Rule... YOU MUST BE A FOLLOWER OF THE SITE TO BE ELIGIBLE TO WIN!  There will be no exceptions.  A follower is defined only as someone who goes to the right sidebar of our site, clicks "Follow" under "Followers" and registers to follow our site. Not Facebook, Not Twitter, and Not by Email. It is very simple... we will click on your name if you are a winner, and if we see our site as one that you follow, you win, if we do not see our site as one you follow, we pick another winner.  We are very easy going here at TLGBRS, but can not stress enough how many times we have to remind people to follow our site to be eligible. This contest, no reminders.  Sorry for sounding firm, but as many times as we remind people, it seems some people still do not want to listen, and the craziest part is... why wouldn't you??

OK, THE ENTRIES:

You MUST comment on the review and interview AND you MUST leave your email address!

+2 For Existing Followers (membership has it's benefits)


+1 For a New Follower

+1 For linking this contest to your sidebar, tweeting it, sky writing it, putting it on a magnet on the side of your car, etc. (INCLUDE LINK)

+3 If you give the contest it's own POST on your blog site

+5 FOR EACH PERSON THAT JOINS AS A NEW FOLLOWER, ENTERS THE CONTEST, AND SAYS THAT YOU SENT THEM (I will add the +5 for you in a comment after I see the entry!)

+10 extra entries to anyone who brings us **at least 5 NEW FOLLOWERS for this contest** (Again, we will add the +10 once we confirm that the new people you sent are indeed followers!)

AS ALWAYS, ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO EMAIL US @ tlgbrs@gmail.com

DAVE

WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN NEXT & OUR 400TH FOLLOWER!

Some quick announcements that should make you all happy campers...

First, we hit 400 followers!  GO YOU GUYS!!  Thank you to all of you who are currently followers of our site.  We greatly appreciate all our your continuous support!  We couldn't and wouldn't be doing this without you.

MEGA CONTEST WINNERS UPDATE!!!

After countless hours and lots and lots of tallying, we have completed the selection of winners for the "MEGA CONTEST" Tomorrow evening along with the "Sunday Scoop", we will announce the winners!  This was probably the hardest task we have faced so far since creating the site and posting our very first post.  HOWEVER, every minute was worth it.... You want to know why?  Good, because we are going to tell you.  It was worth it because of you!  You guys have stuck with us for a while, been patient, have been giving us something to work for, something to keep reading, reviewing, interviewing, and holding our contests for.  We are thrilled to be able to share our insights, thought, and  passion with you.  That is what made every grueling minute of the contest ending process worth it all!  

To share something a bit out of the ordinary and a bit unexplainable with you all.... to this day, and regardless of how many times we have mentioned the contest requirements AND the contest end date we STILL have people entering the contest as well as stating they are "followers" who are not following!  This is really surreal to us.  We have stated sooo many times that the most important requirement to be eligible to win is to be a follower of the site.  There are still sooo many people who have tried to skate around this, it's amazing.  It's amazing because we have NO IDEA why.  It is not like by following we get your SS #, or are going to tap out your ATM card...  Also, we have made several posts about the contest ending, including in the comments section of the contest entry post, and yet people are still entering up to and including today!  The only rational explanation is that these people are not reading ANY of the other content on the site.  Had they been, we are sure they would have seen all of the clues and hints that it was over.  Regardless, thank you to those who pay attention and actually read our posts!

WHAT TOMORROW HOLDS

Tomorrow will be a sort of busy day.  First, we will be posting our triple threat on "Adventurer's Wanted: Slathbog's Gold" by M.L. Forman.  As part of the "Triple Threat" (review, interview, and contest) Mark (M.L.) will be contributing a signed copy of the book as well as a CD version for your listening enjoyment as our giveaways.  We will pick 2 different winners for this one.  Also, a quick reminder, we still have up for grabs a signed copy of "Candor" by Pam Bachorz!

As well, tomorrow Lauryn will be posting her review on both the book and movie of "New Moon", part 2 in the "Twilight" series.  Speaking of New Moon, guess what the Gang did tonight?  Yes, we did.... we saw New Moon AGAIN!  Dave was tempted to take his video camera in this time to save us the $50 it cost to see it each time (if it weren't illegal, we'd be watching it from home again now!)  But yes, the ladies of the house outnumbered Dave 3-1 and well, New Moon it was for our Saturday night pleasure.

Tomorrow we will also have our weekly column "Sunday Scoop" and again, that is where we will announce our winners of the Mega Contest.  It is usually written at night, but keep in mind, as it is the "Sunday" Scoop, all day Sunday is fair game.  Depending on how a few different plans pan out, it could be in the middle of the day, afternoon, or evening.  (mornings are for sleep in the Gang's house on the weekends).

OTHER RANDOM INFO

Just for the heck of throwing some stuff into the spotlight, Mara has surprised us all in the house and since our first viewing of New Moon last Friday, Mara has power read and completed ALL of the Twilight books!  Considering they are all good size books (500+ pages) that is A LOT of reading!  Kudos to her!!  Speaking of Mara, she and David have been busy little bees working on our new site, www.thelateinergangreviewspot.blogspot.com (not yet public) and trying to get some sponsors to give us some products to start reviewing and of course giving away to you guys.  We are going to debut the site soon, but still do not have a date.  Instead of rushing it, we are going to make sure we have some goodies to get you guys started with as well as a "Grand Opening" contest where we are working on a few special prizes, and hopefully one will pan out.  If it does, you guys will be happy as can be.  We are getting closer to inking a deal with a sponsor who wishes to remain anonymous (for now hopefully) and trying to get hold of an E-Reader to give away as our debut contest!  Not to be impartial, but if it ends up happening, we are shooting to give away the "Nook" as it will be our E-Reader of choice for the Gang.  NO promises at all, and we contemplated even telling you, but what the heck.  Again, no promises, it's just in the works with a few other things to consider as well.  Regardless, we will kick off the new site with something off the charts for sure.

Well, that is about all we have for now.  Tune in tomorrow, and check back throughout the day for the "Sunday Scoop", which will include the lucky winners of the Mega Contest FINALLY! 

AS ALWAYS...ANY QUESTIONS, dial 1-800-askthelateinergang (1-800-784-875-43634356-5345)... JUST KIDDING, although if you did dial a number that long, we are sure you would probably be ordering takeout from a real Chinese Restaurant IN CHINA!!!  Email us if you have a question, or just feel like reaching out to us for any reason... tlgbrs@gmail.com

THE LATEINER GANG

It's That Time of Year Again!

Umm, Looks Like Someone is a Bit Confused Today!

It's that time of year again.  Early darkness, holiday traffic, crowded malls and stores, new year's resolution thoughts, pies and egg nog, Christmas trees and Menorahs, and the hunt for that one "hot" present that every kid has to have this year!  The time of year where chaos and mayhem seem normal, deciding who makes it to the "get's a present" list this year, and writing a wish list of your own.

Although, the short time between Turkey Day and the New Year feels like eternity, it's always over before you know it, and we start counting down the time until the next holiday season.  The most important thing is that you make time for your loved ones and friends, the people that play such an important role in your life whether you realize it or not.  We consider many of you a part of our "online blog family" and want to let you know how much we appreciate you. From the 4 of us at TLGBRS, we want to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!  Enjoy your dinner, as thanks to master turkey chef Mara, we know we will!

GOBBLE GOBBLE!

The Gang

Mega Contest Update AND Some Other Good Stuff To Be Happy About!

Hello Everyone!  I want to make somewhat of an announcement re: the contest results.  First, I want to thank all of you for being patient with us, and those of you who have sent us supporting emails or posted supporting comments.  There is nothing I want to do more than to have this completed, and believe me, i'm working on it!  I could easily close my eyes, go down the list, and point and have my winners, but I am dedicated to doing this the way I started it, fairly and with random.org.  I have been hard at work trying to select our winners.  So far I have had some success.  Progress has been made.  So you have a better idea of what I have been doing, every time I find someone who is not a "follower", I have to go find all of their posts, exclude them, and then go back and re-count the entries.  I have made it far enough in the list to select appx. 8 winners so far.  It would not be fair to announce them yet, so I will hold off.  I am making my way down the list (printed, which was smart!) and diligently going one by one.  As this would have been so much easier had everyone followed the directions, not everything works out the way we always want it to. For this reason, I am again sorry to those of you who did follow directions.  The reason I wanted to make an announcement tonight was to manage your expectations.  Although I am working on this, many of you know, I do have a full time job, which basically leaves this to be done at night, which I have been doing.  With the holiday coming up, I want to make you all aware that there is a high probability that I will not have this complete until the end of the weekend.  I truly am sorry, but there is not much more I can do at this time, except keep doing what I am doing.  I am off Thursday like many of you are, however, I do have to work a full day on Friday. Regardless, if I do not sleep, this will be done this weekend.  

For future contests, I can not think of any easier way to do this.  I will continue to stress throughout contests that you must be a follower of the site to be eligible.  Hopefully, it will sink in, and things will get easier as time goes on. 

ON A BRIGHTER NOTE, a while back, I did a review on "Adventurer's Wanted: Slathbog's Gold" by M.L. Forman.  A Fantastic book, I have arranged something special.  I will be re-introducing the review along with a not-before-published interview with breakout author M.L. Forman.  As always, to make things interesting around here, there will be a CONTEST attached... I like these new "triple-threat" posts.  Review, Interview, and Contest all in one.  Hey, I just thought of something....As many sites have had this before, I don't think I've ever heard it called a "triple-threat" posting!  I am officially coining the phrase "Triple Threat" in the book blogging community, and one will include.... a review, interview, and contest.  Sorry, had to pat myself on the back for that one. Anyway, in this Triple Threat, M.L. Forman will be offering up 1 signed copy of Adventurer's Wanted, as well as a copy of the CD recording of Adventurer's Wanted.  We will have 2 winners, 1 for each.  I will post the Triple Threat probably in the next few days.  This, as well as our current Triple Threat for "Candor", will be our 2 active contests for now.  I don't think I am up to anything more currently.  Im already overextended, so for now, you guys will hopefully be ok with the 2 new contests.  We are working on a special "different" kind of contest that we will also publish soon.  I do not think I have seen one around yet either.  As you know, the Gang is fairly creative, and we are always thinking of new ways to get you guys excited and make our contests more appealing to you.

Once again, I TERRIBLY apologize for the delay.  Please continue to have patience for me.  It was a first for us to hold a MEGA contest, and although it was a success, it was our first time on such a large scale.  This is not discouraging, as it helps us to improve upon our process.  Smaller contests are a piece of cake, it's the big one with a ton of winners that needs some work.  If any of you have any suggestions that can help us, we are definitely open to advice.  Keep in mind, that as we expand our following, (and the only real requirement we always include is that you must be a follower" we are able to get access to more authors, publishers, sponsors, etc. and in return provide you with better and bigger prizes.  This is why we ask to have everyone follow.  Many of you already know this, but for those of you who don't, that is why it is a requirement.  So again, if anyone has any suggestions for BIG contests going forward (not as far as prizes, but as far as a process) as long as you keep the "follower" rule in mind, feel free to share.  You are free to post your suggestions, however, I'd really appreciate it if you could email them to me at tlgbrs@gmail.com instead.

FINALLY, to re-mention this (and hopefully cause some excitement buzz), we will be starting a "sister" site to TLGBRS.  The purpose is as follows-  as our site has grown in size, we have been approached by many companies, marketing agencies, etc. and asked to review "products" and such, as well as offer giveaways and contests for cool stuff (we have seen some of the stuff and CAN'T wait to get our hands on them as well as yours!).  We have thought long and hard about incorporating this into the site.  We have built a strong, ever growing following for our site based upon the hard work and effort we put in revolving around the book blogging community.  We have made the decision NOT to incorporate the "products" part with the "book" part.  We love our site here and do not want to compromise it whatsoever.  Therefore, it is not completed yet (almost done!), but soon we will be launching our second site, "The Lateiner Gang Review Spot", where it will be open to anything and everything as far as reviews, GIVEAWAYS, and CONTESTS!  I will provide the site's address in a special unveiling post once we are up and running, which should be soon.  We are trying to make it look very similar to our "book" review site, as we kind of like the way this looks and want to keep the "purple" thing going for now.  There might be some minor changes, but for the most part, it will look very much like this site here.  We will ask all of you that follow our site to please go over and become a follower of the new site in an effort to maintain our level of interest from these advertisers, companies, and other avenues that will provide us with treats for you guys!  Of course, we will have to incorporate a BIG opening contest for the site.... We are working on that as well.  Keep your eyes open for drips and drabs of info regarding the new site and when it will be live.  Although it will be soon, we do not want to rush it, and we want to make sure we are good to go when we do unveil it.  So, as of now, no definite date.

We will continue to work this Mega Contest situation, and will have a definite list of the winners by the end of the weekend for sure. Again, I am prepared to not sleep until it is done!  Thanks again for your understanding, support, and patience.  IN THE MEAN TIME, GO SIGN UP TO WIN YOUR SIGNED COPY OF "CANDOR" & LOOK FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN "ADVENTURER'S WANTED: SLATHBOG'S GOLD" by M.L. Forman.  I am going to tell you guys to google that book, or look for it however you look for books, and get a feel for it.  I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT! (my FAVORITE part was the "magic bag" which is by far the COOLEST accessory/tool/prop I have ever read about!)  You are welcome to go check out the review I have posted earlier in (Sept-Oct.) but I will re post it in the next few days.

Well, I think that is about it for now.  See all you crazy cats soon!

DAVE

"Sunday Scoop" The Gang's Weekly Column

SUNDAY SCOOP

MEGA CONTEST UPDATE

Hey Everyone!  This Scoop is going to be super short in an effort to continue to work on the contest.  Here's what is going on.  Throughout the contest, we tried to remind everyone several times that a requirement to being eligible to win is that you must be a "follower" of our site.  Well, as it turns out, not everyone were good little contest entering fairies.  I have been working on the contest for 4 hours so far today around our Sunday required errands.  With well over 1000 entries, this is becoming a mess.  Every time someone is not a "follower", and there are enough out there that are not, I have to search the entire list and find every entry they posted.  This is causing me to have to go back and re count the entries every time.  I am only appx halfway done with the list.  I have not even got to the fun part of using random.org to select the winning #'s to match up to you guys.  I apologize for all of you who followed the instructions.  I feel horrible, but I just can not finish it tonight.  I will try to have it done tomorrow night, but I am still working on Sami's project as well.  Either way, it will be done shortly.  I can not believe the amount of entries that we received!  It is overwhelming.  I guess that is a good thing.  Anyway, Thanks for all your support and patience.  I really do appreciate it.

In the Mean time, we have posted a review, interview, and new contest for"Candor" by Pam Bachorz.  Please check them out and stop by and enter to win a signed ARC of 'Candor", which I absolutely LOVED and know that you will too!

COMING SOON

We have been approached by several companies as well as marketing sites that want us to promote products and sites as well as a TON of GIVEAWAY CONTESTS!  The problem was, that we did not want to compromise the integrity of our book review site.  That was started and continues to be run on the basis of our love for books.  It is not appropriate for us to start doing all of these other giveaways and contests on the site.  So, what we are doing, is creating a very similar (looks exactly like our current book review site) site that will be for all of our other reviews, giveaways, contests, etc. for you guys.  We definitely want to be able to do this stuff for you, but made the decision to keep the sites separate.  This way we can continue with business as usual at the book review site, and still offer you guys chances to win a ton of other cool stuff.  When we officially launch the new site, we will ask all of you to kindly head over to the new "sister" site, sign up to follow, and get ready to win stuff!  Although we are all going to participate in the additional site, it will be Mara's "baby".  We really do appreciate all of you spending time at our site and being part of something we love!  That is why we decided to create this new site.  I can not give you the name yet, as it is still being worked on, but its similar to what we have now...  and it will look basically, exactly the same!  We hope you will enjoy it.

THAT'S ALL FOR THIS "SCOOP"

Sorry guys, this scoop is short and without too much of the usual stuff.  I apologize, as there were things that everyone wanted to contribute, but it's late, the girls have to go to sleep, and I need a break from the computer today!  I hope you all understand.  So, keep your eyes open over the next day or so for the contest winners, the new unveiling of our "sister" site, and some cool reviews.  Lauryn has been dying to review "New Moon" the book, so when she does, it would be great if you guys would check it out and help build some confidence for her.  She loves to write, but always feels like her reviews are not "good enough" for the site.  I disagree and think they are wonderful, and hopefully you will too!

Thanks so much!

DAVE

The Mega Contest is Officially CLOSED!

Just a reminder that the Mega Contest is officially

 Any entries that are received after 11:59 pm (est) last night, will not be included in the total tally.

Please be patient with us as we have appx 400 comments and well over 1000 total entries to review (we told you we were going to review them! It's only fair to those who followed directions)  Most probably, the winners will be announced this evening as part of the "Sunday Scoop".  In the mean time, go down 3 posts, and start reading about "Candor", and work your way up to the new Contest, a signed ARC of Candor!

Thanks and check back tonight as we announce our winners of the Mega Contest!

The Lateiner Gang

ANOTHER GANG GONTEST!!! A SIGNED ARC OF "CANDOR" BY PAM BACHORZ!

CONTEST! CONTEST! CONTEST!

Hello to all our friends!  As the Mega Contest ends, another begins!

We have basically featured "Candor" today, as the 2 previous posts have been a review of "Candor" as well as an interview with the author, Pam Bachorz.  Pam decided it would be a great idea to top off the triple threat of posts with a giveaway of a signed ARC of "Candor"!!

So, we will let this one run from today, Sat. Nov 21st, 2009 until (est) 11:59 p.m. on Saturday Dec. 12th, 2009.

Here's how to ENTER:

YOU MUST FOLLOW OUR SITE TO BE ELIGIBLE TO WIN. That means, we must be able to verify that you are a follower, and we will.

+2 for already following (you know the routine...membership has its benefits!)

+1 for signing up to be a new Follower of our site through clicking on the "follow" tab under "Followers" on our right sidebar.

+2 for each new follower we get that mentions you sent them

+1 for each post you comment on (reviews, interviews, "Sunday Scoops", or specially marked posts only) starting with the "Candor" review until the contest ends

+1 for each individual & separate - blurb, tweet, mention, skywriting, tattoo, etc. about this contest

+3 if you give our contest it's own post on your blog site

SPECIAL ENTRY

+10 (FOR ONE PERSON ONLY! WILL IT BE YOU??) if you can guess Dave's middle name...1 guess per person, and Dave will add the +10 if you are right...1st person who gets it right, gets the +10 :o)

**Contest open to U.S. and Canada Residents**

So, nothing out of the norm of the usual entry stuff, except the lucky +10 winner, IF there is someone out there who can guess.  I will give you these clues... it's not Herman, Phillipe, or Billy-Bob.  It doesn't start with a vowel or end with a vowel.  It has more than 3 letters in it, but fewer than 7. Happy Halloween...er, I mean Happy Thanksgiving! Hey, at least it's a start!

Good Luck to you all!

THE LATEINER GANG

An Interview with Pam Bachorz, author of "Candor"

"Candor" was a fantastic book.  Hands down.  The review of Candor is right below this post, and thanks to Pam, the next post after our interview will be for our next contest, a signed ARC of "Candor" for you guys. I guess you can say today is "Candor" day at TLGBRS!  I hope you enjoy Candor as much as I did.  Pam has been very pleasant and has overextended herself to us.  Here is what she had to say...

TLG: Your debut hit, "Candor" has been off to a running start since being released. What did you do before you decided to write a smash hit and what led you to writing it?

PB: Well, thanks, I don't know about "smash" but I'll take it! Well, besides being a writer I'm a mom and I also work in photo buying at a textbook publisher. And publishing a book hasn't changed either one of those things! I decided to write CANDOR when I realized that my one regret in life was that I had given up the writing I love so much as a child and teen. I wanted to know that I'd given writing a novel my best shot. CANDOR was actually my third novel that I wrote, once I made that decision.

TLG: After reading Candor, I got an eerie feeling that "what if this really were to happen?"  For those of you who do not know (yet!), and without giving any spoilers out, Candor is a town where all of its residents are basically controlled or better yet, kept in line through subliminal messages that are fed to them through music. Once you completed the book, did you ever get that same feeling, like this could actually happen?

PB: You know what, I wouldn't be shocked. There are certain people who will always look for ways to control others, and if someday an effective brainwashing technology was invented, I have no doubt that there is someone on the planet who would be glad to use it. Probably a lot of someones. In the meantime, we are all subtly influenced by all kinds of messages, every day: advertising, television, movies, newspapers, magazines, books, our religious and political readers, and our own peers all change the way we see the world and the way we behave.

TLG: I always like to inquire a bit about the process of actually getting the book published.  Was Candor picked up right away, or did you have to play the "shopping around" game, getting an agent, etc.?  Tell us a bit of what you experienced.

PB: Well, I got an agent first and that took a few months. Then it took about another month or six weeks for my agent to sell the book. It went really fast... after 5 years of writing!

TLG: Was much of the book changed once it hit your editor's hands, or is what we are reading a good portion of the original?

PB: CANDOR didn't change all that much, though I am grateful to both my agent and editor for helping me to really hone it into the story you're reading today.

TLG: How long was the entire process from the time you started writing until you held a completed copy in your hands?

PB: It took me five years to write and sell CANDOR--of course during that time I also wrote two other books, had a child and moved from Florida to the DC area!

TLG: As far as your writing "style", are you more of a pen and paper author, or a pdf file author?

PB: I draft on my computer and then I print it out and do a deep revision with good old fashioned pen on paper. The worst part is entering all those changes back into the computer! But I find it makes for a far better revision and it also keeps me moving forward.

TLG: When you wrote Candor, did you do all of your writing during designated times, or were you ever in a situation where an idea popped into your head while you were for instance grocery shopping, and had to ask the cashier to borrow their pen and started scribbling notes on a paper bag?

PB: My life is so crammed full that I have to fight for writing time. I schedule it, and that really is when my writing happens. Even when I'm out shopping I am on my blackberry trying to fight back a thicket of e-mails, keep up on social networking, etc!

TLG: Can you tell us what your favorite types of books to read are?  Favorite Authors?  Favorite books?  

PB: I love to read anything and everything YA. Right now I'm reading LEVIATHAN by Scott Westerfeld. All-time faves include Lois Duncan, L.M. Montgomery and David Sedaris. 

TLG: Going forward, what can we expect from you? Are you planning on staying in the YA arena?

PB: I definitely see myself staying in YA for awhile, though I'm always intrigued by writing middle grade or maybe even an adult novel some day. But YA is my natural bent. I have another YA book coming out with Egmont, tentatively set for Fall 2010, and I'm working on another one right now!

TLG:  Last but not least, our signature question... What would you, Pam Bachorz, author of "Candor" do for a Klondike Bar??

PB: Are we talking full-fat or low-fat? Because the full-fat are so much better yet we never dare to buy them. Hmmmm how about I'll sing you a song from THE MUSIC MAN or PIPPIN? Still have them memorized from my high school shows! 

Pam, Thanks so much for giving me the pleasure of the interview.  Also, thanks so much for offering up a signed ARC of "Candor" for our fans!  That is super cool of you! You can learn more about Pam and "Candor" by going to her site.  Click HERE to be taken directly there.

DAVE

Book Review: "Candor" by Pam Bachorz

I press down the button and there's a hissing sound.

I'm doing it- making a big orange streak on the post, defacing property.  Breaking rules.  My mouth splits into a huge grin.  I can taste the tang of the paint.  But the Messages scream in my brain.  BADBADBAD.

I stuff them back.  Swing the can wide. 

It feels good.

Everything is perfect in the town of Candor, Florida.

Teens respect their elders, do their chores, and enjoy homework... because they're controlled by subliminal messages.

Oscar Banks, the son of the town's founder, is the model of perfection: class president, top student, shining example.  But it's only a disguise.  Unlike all the other Candor teens, he knows about the Messages, and he fights them with his own counterprogramming.

Only Oscar knows how to get kids out of Candor- for a price.  Nobody suspects that he smuggles the richest new kids out of town before they change.  It's risky: if Oscar were caught, he'd be sent straight to the Listening Room, where the most resistant minds are wiped clean.

When Nia moves into town, Oscar is smitten by her tart attitude and ability to see through his perfect-boy front.  He can't stand to see her changed by the Messages.  Now he must decide to help Nia escape Candor and lose her forever, or keep her close and risk exposure.

MY REVIEW:

Well, since many of you know my style by now, you'd know that I thought this book was aMaZiNg, or I would not have been mentioning it for a while now.  What's so cool, is the author, Pam is equally AmAzInG!  She was not only kind enough to give us an interview, BUT, she was Super Kind and also offered up a SIGNED ARC of "Candor" for our next contest!  So here you have it... a Triple Threat- Review, Interview, and Contest!  Keep your eyes open for our next 2 posts, the Interview and then the Contest!

Now, to the important part... what I thought of the book.  I must tell you, I was cruising through one of our followed sites, and this is what kills me, I can't remember which site (i'm sooo sorry), but I stumbled upon this post about a book, Candor and started to read.  The cover is really cool, which I must say caught my attention at first.  It just had "this look" to it that made me continue on.  Believe it or not, I was heading over to Barnes and Noble that night after I read about Candor, went to my usual first stop, the YA new releases, and there on the shelf, with it's part orange cover, was Candor... it begged to be bought, and I caved in.  As you guys know, most of my books for review come from our lovely publisher friends that keep us reading, but I always cruise the local store every week to see if there is anything I missed.  I just had to get this book.  Something was seriously telling me to read it, and boy am I glad that I did... definitely one of my favs. Definitely.  The book was started and finished before I ever went to bed that same night as the trip to B & N.  

Oscar is the town's "model" teen.  This is quite important as his dad had created this "town" where parents could move to, bring their troubled children, and rather quickly, they are turned into the "perfect" child.   It is a community isolated, thanks to Oscar's dad, and one that the residents are thrilled to live in.  A few model perfect homes to choose from, all healthy food, repetition and routine, basically... perfection.  The problem here... it's artificial, controlled by the Messages that Oscar's dad has planted into the mind's of these kids.  Everywhere, all the time, Messages.  The kids don't even know what hit them.  All except one. One who has kept a secret hidden for as long as he could remember. Oscar.  Since his little brother died and Mom was smart enough to leave his Dad, Oscar has known about the messages.  He is controlled by them to a point, but has learned how to fight them off, when he needs to.  This becomes extremely profitable 

for Oscar.  When a new rich kid comes to town, he gets to them before it is too late, and then they are gone.  Gone before it ever affected them.  (of course I'm not going to tell you his "process", as that is for you to learn on your own, as always)

Here comes the quick summary of the rest of the book (well, the rest of the book actually starts on pg. 1!)  Oscar meets the new kid, Nia.  She is different.  She is beautiful, she is rebellious, she is just his next client, his next project, his next deposit into his offshore account.  Or is she??  Oscar finds that he can not stay away from her.  He thinks about her day and night. Between dealing with his current client Sherman, who is just a royal "p.i.t.a" and his "girlfriend" Mandi, who is really just a prop, Oscar does everything he can to be around Nia.  At first she resists him.  He wants to help her, help her escape the horror and nightmare she is about to be subjected to.  He also wants to be with her.  What does he do? Help her escape her future here, keep her on as a girlfriend, or both?  What would the consequences be, the price to pay, regardless of his decision?  

Candor really was a gem.  I mean that.  It had "it".   I normally give you guys just enough to feel what I feel about a book I read, without giving you too much.  I had every intention of doing so here as well.  As I sit here and think about what more to tell you, I am having a hard time.  Usually my reviews flow smoothly for me.  My problem is that I don't want to give you more.  I just want you to read the book and experience it for yourself.  There is plenty that I left out.  The book goes through the problems Oscar faces in getting his ultimate goal, Nia.  The roadblocks... Sherman, Mandi, his Dad, the fear of the town itself and all it's residents are what  I'm leaving out.  The ending was a total surprise for me.  I would not have seen it coming if it was had been sky written above my head!

I can honestly say that "Candor" is one of the most difficult books I have tried to review.  It is not just a story.  It made me think ALOT.  What would happen if something like this, something where Messages started to control us actually happened.  Pam has made it VERY realistic to think that such an event could happen.  It goes beyond a small community.  What if this could happen on a larger scale?  Has it already happened in different form.  Whose to say whether the messages have to be "heard" through speakers and such.  Are we already living the lives that the residents in Candor are living? Do we do what we do because we want to, or because it is what is wanted of us to do? Are we really free to do as we please?  Weird thoughts.  I will wrap this up by  telling you that I really suggest each and every one of you go get this book.  Buy it, borrow it, read it in the store if you want to.... just read it.  I don't think I've let any of you down before with my suggestions or recommendations.  For sure, I will not start now.

Dave

EXTRA! EXTRA!.... NEWS FROM THE GANG

Hidee Ho!

Well, the contest is coming to an end... Some reminders first, then some good stuff.

FOLLOWING OUR SITE TO BE ELIGIBLE TO WIN..PLEASE READ

A reminder to everyone who entered.  We have noticed that there has been some confusion going around and wanted to clarify for you all now, before the contest ends.  One of the requirements to be eligible to win a prize in our contest was that you must be a follower of the site.  To follow, you must go to the section on on right side bar titled "Followers", click "Follow" and activate yourself as a follower of our site.  Everyone has said they are followers, and several are not.  We will attribute it to confusion, but we want to help you fix it before it is too late.  Following by email does not count as a "Follower".  Also, how we know whether or not you are following is that we click on your name, go down to "sites you are following" and simply look for our site's name.  There have been a good amount of people who have attempted to follow us and have been unsuccessful.  As an act of kindness, we have sent emails to many of you (not all of you, so please double check if you want to make sure you are eligible to win) reminding you how to sign up.  We really do want everyone to have a chance of winning, so we have tried our best to make you aware.  However, rules are rules and it is not fair to those who have met the requirements, so we will remind you one last time before the contest ends... You MUST be a follower of our site to be eligible to win  prize.  When we select our winners randomly, we will click your name, and if we do not see our site as one you are following, we will simply select another winner.  It will break our heart to do so, which is why we have made several attempts including this one to remind you all.

ON TO BIGGER AND BETTER, LIKE HOW WE WILL SELECT OUR WINNERS AND WHAT YOU WILL GET!

After thinking this through, and this being one of the biggest book blog contests we have seen, we decided to make the ending a bit interesting.  Listen up, this is going to be good.  Tomorrow morning, we are packing up and sealing all the books to go out.  Some packages will have 1 book, others 2.  One lucky book will have a $200 Apple Gift Card taped to the inside cover!  Once we select our winners, and as the addresses come in, we will just randomly address the sealed envelopes to you guys.  This way, neither you or us knows what's inside and who is getting what.  Let's call it a Grab Bag for lack of better terms!  We thought we'd end the contest in the most fun way we could think of, and well, that was it! So get excited and cross your fingers.

WINNERS FROM THE RANDOM DRAWING A FEW WEEKS AGO...

As Anne Diana Dinh pointed out, the books that were won a few weeks ago did not make it out to you guys yet.  We had a minor "situation" occur and we are fixing it.  The envelopes were supposed to be stamped through a postage meter machine for $3.00 each.  They were stamped at .30 cents instead, causing them all to be returned.  We have held the packages, got new envelopes and will re send them out once the contest is over.  As any of you know from past contests, we immediately send out your books and although media mail can take a while, they have all got to your hands mighty quick.  For this we apologize.  (Ok, fine... it was Dave who entered the wrong amount in the postage meter and ran the envelopes through... It's not fair to blame the whole Gang when one person erred).  SO, again, our apologies, and they will be out by Monday morning. Thanks again to Ann Diana Dinh for bringing it to our attention, therefore we thought it would be prudent to mention here that we didn't forget about you guys.

WHAT'S NEXT ON THE CONTEST HORIZON??

Well, no we can't give out hundreds although we wish we could... (Got Your Attention Though!)

The Gang would not be "The Gang" if we didn't have another great one in the wings.  Ok, so we are going to be giving away a copy of the NEW, AWESOME BOOK "you don't think we are going to ruin it and actually tell you, do you??"  You will have to check back and see.  Alright, that wasn't so nice.  Here's a clue...it is NEW, it is YA, it is HOT, and you will want to enter to win!  Sorry guys, that's all you are getting for now. (No Boo-Hoo's outta you, it's only 1 more day until it's posted!)

WHAT WE DID TONIGHT???

YES, it was AwEsOmE!  We have never been one for spoilers....and we are not about to change that!  HOWEVER, sticking true to form and always getting you guys (or in this case, gals) excited and psyched up, we will leave you with this... The ending in the movie is NOT the same as the ending in the book!  Thank Lauryn for that as she is the only one who read the books. The rest of the Gang only saw the movies....for now :O)

And yes, even Dave enjoyed it and will be reading the books sometime before the next movie comes out.  Of course, finding a folded up $20 on the ground on the way out didn't hurt either!

WE HAVE ONE MORE TREAT FOR YOU ALL!

Tomorrow, Dave will be reviewing "Candor" by Pam Bachorz WITH an interview attached to it from the awesome new author.  You are going to LOVE the book for sure!

KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN!  THINGS ARE HAPPENIN' AROUND HERE!

THE LATEINER GANG 

LAST CHANCE TO ENTER! FINAL 2 DAYS OF OUR MEGA CONTEST & TWILIGHT IS HERE!!!

The Lateiner Gang's Mega Contest is down to it's last 2 days!  If you haven't entered umm, like what are you waiting for?!?!

If you have, you have 2 days left to read and comment on our posts for your extra entries.

To read the rules and enter the contest, click HERE.

Plenty more coming from the Gang as soon as the contest is over, and who knows maybe a surprise review/interview before it ends!

OF COURSE, we wouldn't be The Lateiner Gang if we didn't already have our next contest planned, right?  As soon as the Mega baby is over, we will post our next giveaway so stay tuned.

What reviews should you look forward to?  Well, let's see, we have...

The Everafter

City of Bones

Shiver

The Time Traveler's Wife

Hunger

Girl in the Arena

Seven Rays

Beautiful Creatures

The Lemonade War (Sami)

The Unusual Mind of Vincent Shadow (Sami)

Alvor (Lauryn)

New Moon (Lauryn)

Candor (including an interview with the talented new breakout author Pam Bachorz)

& MORE!

For Lauryn, waiting so patiently (YEAH RIGHT! We had to buy tickets yesterday for tomorrow!) and the rest of you 5 million crazy, drooling women out there....

(We were going to put up a pic of Dave also, but we figured we should give Mr. Pattinson his few minutes of uninterrupted fame)

The Lateiner Gang will be at the theater tomorrow at 6pm (for a 7pm showing!)

Now that we got that out of the way, let us bring you back down to earth and remind you to get your last minute entries to the contest in.

Thank you to all the publishers who contributed to our Mega Contest and thank you to all of you guys & gals out there who entered and who continue to support us.

Winners will be announces in a special way (if you want to know how before we announce them, check out the last "Sunday Scoop") so check back in 2 days!

THE LATEINER GANG

"Sunday Scoop" The Gang's Weekly Column

SUNDAY SCOOP

Hello All!

Well, this week's Scoop is not going to have too much personal stuff in it.  Main reason- our home was flooded over the last few days, the kitchen ceiling caved in, and we basically spent the last 3-4 days living in a hotel! We are back in our home (Woo Hoo!) but things are still not fully in order here :o(

BUT...There are a few things we want to talk about.  First of all, for those of you who won books a few weeks ago, could you let us know when they arrive?  We did send them out the following week after we got a new shipment to give away, but we still like to keep track of things.  

READ THIS CLOSELY, IT CAN ONLY HELP YOU!

The MEGA CONTEST is in it's final week!  We had a mini contest last week that we thought people would be excited about... and it seems like we couldn't get anyone to participate :o(  Let's give it one more shot!  Over the next week, post about our Mega Contest wherever your heart desires.  Make sure you tell people to come sign up for the contest...  The person at the end of the contest who has sent over the most people (who follow and enter contest) will win a special book that we still have here and really want to give away!  As some extra incentive, besides the one with the most referrals winning a special book, ANYONE who refers someone who signs up to follow, enters the contest, and mentions your name gets 2 extra entries in the contest.  THAT'S RIGHT, just for referring someone, you will get 2 EXTRA ENTRIES TO THE CONTEST!  Come on guys, we know that someone out there wants to win one of the new hot YA books that we have our hands on as well as get some easy extra entries in to the contest.

SPEAKING OF WINNING AMAZING THINGS.... HERE IS A LINK YOU CAN CLICK ON TO WIN A FREE KINDLE!  JUST CLICK HERE TO ENTER.  COME ON.... IT'S A CHANCE TO WIN A KINDLE, YOU KNOW....THIS THINGY.... JUST AN E-BOOK READER!  ;o)

Who doesn't want an e-reader?  Well, we do!  The Gang is thinking about either a kindle or what we really want is a NOOK, but it seems nobody at B & N knows for sure when they will be in.  We actually went to our local one yesterday, and they had this whole awesome set up as soon as you walked in for the NOOK.  As we approached the counter, it looked like there was 6 of them for sale.  When we asked about them, the saleswoman told us they were just for show and they weren't real, just paper fliers.  Well, we had to get one in our hand to hold, and be rest assured, it was no paper insert!  It was the real deal.  Even underneath, where it was difficult to see, was a jack for earphones or something.  It was heavy, looked real, and felt real to us!  Not quite sure what tricks they are up to, but possibly they are the few that will be available for sale sometime soon, but until then, they are "fake".  Who knows???  What we do know, is that holding the actual Nook in our hands was like holding a bar of pure gold.  It felt awesome!

Well, This edition of the Scoop is going to come to a close shortly.  We just came home today and are still working on the house.  Before we go, Dave wanted to share that he is currently reading 2 books that are really cool... first, City of Bones, book 1 in the Immortals which is really cool!  Second, a book that he found randomly on a site and happen to see in B & N last night on the teen new arrival shelf, "Candor" by Pam Bachorz.  It is actually a book that has not had too much buzz out there from what Dave says, but one that he can not put down. He does really like a bunch of books, however it is not too often that he finds a book that he LOVES.  Halfway done (started earlier today and planned to be finished before the night ends) it is turning out to be on the top "Loved" list of all time.  What an amazing book!  Ok, enough of the tease.... look for the review very soon, like tomorrow night!

The Gang wants to remind you all again that there is less than a week left in the Mega Contest.  What does this mean??  It means that if you have signed up already, you still have those extra shots at extra entries by commenting on reviews and certain posts.  If you have not yet entered, what the heck are you waiting for???

Many of you have been wondering... HOW ARE THE WINNERS GOING TO BE PICKED AND WHAT WILL THEY WIN???

We would like to answer that for you.  We use www.random.org to select our random #'s.  We go down the list of all entries (qualified), assign EACH entry a #, and then just take the winning #'s at random.org and go back and see who it is attached to... it's that easy.  As far as what each will win, well we still haven't decided how many winners there will be, but there will be several.  We are going to probably just list the winners and then we thought we would have some fun with that.  We are going to spend all next weekend stuffing books (some 1, some 2) into different blank envelopes.  Then we will seal them.  Once the list of winners is announced, we are going to blindly address them to the winners.  This kind of not only makes things totally fair and unbiased, but seems like a ton of fun as well!  WHAT DO YOU THINK?  If it works out, we think we might even be the first people to do something like this.  Sort of like a grab bag, but through the mail.  The promise we can make is that there will be a lot of winners.  At first, we were going to pick the apple gift card winner and announce them by name, but we had another idea that we would like some feedback on that we are thinking of doing.  When packing all the books in the unaddressed envelopes, we were going to stick the apple card in one of the books, then seal it up with the rest.  What do you think??  How about you know you are a winner, you get your package in the mail, and open it up to find a gift card to the apple store tucked away in the middle of your winning book?? That would be super fun! (at least we think so)

NEXT,

SAs the Mega contest will come to a close, keep in mind that we are not one hit contest wonders.  Our goal is to constantly have some sort of contest going for a new hot book without any time going by without one.  So, as we will wrap up the Mega Contest, it will also be the start of our next one. Not sure which book will be next, but it will be a good one, as usual.

REMINDER:  TO BE ELIGIBLE TO WIN IN THE MEGA CONTEST, YOU MUST BE A FOLLOWER OF OUR SITE. THAT MEANS THAT ON OUR RIGHT SIDEBAR, WE MUST BE ABLE TO SEE YOU FOLLOWING US, OR IF WE CLICK ON YOUR NAME, WE NEED TO BE ABLE TO SEE OUR SITE AS ONE YOU FOLLOW.  SECONDLY, THIS CONTEST IS ONLY OPEN TO U.S. RESIDENTS AS IT HAS STATED SINCE DAY ONE IN THE RULES.  YOU MAY BE FOREIGN BUT HAVE SOMEONE IN THE U.S. WHO YOU CAN GET THE BOOK SENT TO THEIR ADDRESS.  THIS IS NOT A NEW RULE.  The only reason for this is we are actually paying for shipping on this one.  Besides the cost of the apple card, it can cost us over a hundred dollars just for shipping!  We are not sponsored by anyone, so this comes out of our pocket.  Other contests we hold are usually open to anyone, anywhere.

Thanks to all of you for entering and for supporting our site.

 THE LAST PART OF THE SCOOP:

   

WE WANT YOUR BUTTON!  IF YOU ARE A FOLLOWER, PLEASE EMAIL US AT TLGBRS@GMAIL.COM AND WE WILL BE HAPPY TO GRAB YOUR BUTTON IF YOU GRAB OURS.  WE HAVE A NICE LITTLE COLLECTION OF BUTTONS OF FRIEND'S SITES.  WE REALLY WANT YOURS!!  IF YOU HAVE ONE, SHOOT US AN EMAIL AND WE WILL GRAB IT ASAP!

Thanks so much for all your continued support!

THE LATEINER GANG

Book Review: "Wings" by Aprilynne Pike

Laurel was mesmerized, staring at the pale things with wide eyes. They were terrifyingly beautiful- too beautiful for words.

Laurel turned to the mirror again, her eyes on the hovering petals that floated beside her head.  They looked almost like wings. 

My Review:

Without a doubt, a wonderful book.  A New York Times # 1 Best Seller, Aprilynne Pike has done a fabulous job with the first book in this series of four.  Book 2, titled "Spells" is set to hit the shelf on May 4th, 2009.  Here is a sneak peek of the cover.

Another shocker coming from me, but ya know, I sort of am starting to like these types of books. Besides, with a main character named "David" I HAD to at least check it out.  Ok, So the main girl in the book is a teen named Laurel.  Laurel is adopted and was actually just left on her parent's front steps I believe when she was 3 or 4.  She has been home schooled her whole life and seems like a genuine nice girl, but was one who kept mostly to herself.  She lives on this hug lot of land in which her mom's side has owned it for generations. Her dad's dream is to open up a book store (who's isn't???) so they buy a house in a town about 45 minutes away and decide to put the old house up for sale to make ends meet.  

When Laurel moves to her new town, her parents decide that it is time she goes to public school.  Against their wishes and after losing many battles, Laurel goes.  She meets a super great guy named "David" who takes a liking to her immediately and the 2 become really close friends.  David and Laurel start to hang out very often and yes, it is sort of a chick book in the fact that they obviously end up hooking up, but the author does it in a very tasteful and simple way (thank you Aprilynne, as I definitely am not into the mushy stuff!) that sort of reminds you of that high school friend you had that was kind of more than a friend. 

That was some good background, and as always, I like to set you up, get you excited, but not give too much away....and here's the part where I start to slow it down a bit.  Laurel starts to grow this thing out of her back that she has no idea what it is.  It's obvious by the title of the book, that they are wings.  I am leaving a HUGE part about what Laurel actually is, besides a faerie.  It got me interested and thinking, that's for sure.  Ok, so back to the story.  She doesn't really have anyone to tell about this as she is having tons of emotions.  Obviously, she shares it with David who supports her and helps her through the part of growing these "wings" AND losing them.

Behind her house (the original one with tons of land) she meets a guy named "Tamani" who is another faerie.  He actually has been there as long as Laurel has (theres something else I'm not sharing about why she was left on the front steps years ago).  He has been watching over her as well as several other faeries have too.  It's obvious there is something special about Laurel, but telling you that would ruin the story.  What I can tell you is that on that land somewhere is a gateway to the faerie world.  It's one of 4 in the whole world.

Tamani absolutely is madly in love with Laurel and is not ashamed to show it. (hmmm, could it have anything to do with her life before being left on the door steps? But how could that be if she was only 3ish when she was left there??) This becomes a problem as Laurel is kind of with David. To add to the mix, and this is a big part of the story, there is a guy (actually a troll who looks like a really ugly guy) who is trying to buy the land from Laurel's parents.  When her dad falls deathly ill, her mom agrees to sell it to Mr. Barnes (our troll).  This is not such a good thing as the trolls have been trying to either get into faeire world or destroy the gate, and the faeries will die before they allow that again.

Without getting too much more into it, Laurel has some problems to solve.... David or Tamani.... human or faerie??  Also, there is a troll and his sidekicks fooling her parents into selling him their land, while he attempts to kill Laurel and David.  This is a 4 book series, so there is much more to come.  I just decided that I've told you enough.  This book is awesome.  I believe that I read (it's public info folks) that in the next book "Spells", Laurel actually goes through the gate to the faerie world.  I left out parts about magic and stuff, and oh yeah, I forgot to mention that even though Tamani is a faerie, he is perfectly symmetrical in looks (as Laurel is) which basically means that he looks like a supermodel, just in raggedy clothes, which kind of makes the choice between guys a difficult one.  So, what happens with the land?  What happens with Laurel's sick dad? What happens with the wings she grows (which oddly enough have a beautiful floral smell to them)?  What happens with the trolls and faerie land?  Which guy does she choose?  These are all questions that are answered, and remember that all faerie tales (get it, faerie tales???) don't always end perfectly.  

I am really excited that I found out about this being a series.  I didn't know until today, when I was looking up info on the book, which I always do when I read a book (author, gossip, etc.).  I will definitely be asking for an ARC of "Spells" and I so hope I will be fortunate enough to get one.  As far as the book itself, it was around 300 pages and very easy, light reading.  It flowed very well, and there wasn't really any part of the book that I wanted to rush.  It was a constant pleasure, which is also important when reading a book.  There is a good reason that the book is a NY Times #1 Best Seller, it's great.  If you have not already read this one, I suggest you add it to your TDR pile asap.  Enjoy!

DAVE

Book Review: "The Dumpling: A Seasonal Guide" By Wai Hon Chu and Connie Lovatt

(Wai Hon Chu in Action)

This past Thursday night the gang had the pleasure of heading over to our local Whole Foods where there was a dumpling class given by Wai Hon Chu and Connie Lovatt, the co-authors of this amazing cookbook! Our friend J.M. from Harper Collins informed us of this event, and inspired us to go. Needless to say, I was extremely excited to be there. I really wanted the book, and after getting it, I felt that meeting both of the authors, and learning how to make a dumpling dish all in one night, would motivate me to start using the recipes. Sure enough, not more than five minutes after we walked in the door, I was whisking together the soy vinegar sauce, pp.112. Very tasty might I add. We even used it as a chicken marinade the other night!

Back to Whole Foods, on the agenda was to learn how to make Vegetable Potsticker Dumplings. This would normally intimidate me, as I would feel that it would be virtually impossible for me to actually make something that would turn out as delicious and perfect as what Wai was demonstrating. As he began teaching us how to make the dipping sauce and the filling, I realized that this was a feasible dish for me to prepare. Wai was a very detailed, patient and fabulous teacher. After those two items were prepared, we learned how to make all different dumpling folds. There was the traditional half moon, envelope fold, and the pleated half moon. I realized that this would be a great tool when making two or more different types of dumplings. The different folds would differentiate what filling was inside each one. So we put our skills to work, and began filling the dumpling wrappers. Amazingly our girls made some perfect dumplings too! At the end of the class, we ate a few that Wai and Connie had prepared for us, and brought our dumplings home! It was a great night, we learned a lot all together, and our youngest daughter, Sami, can now add Vegetable Dumplings to her very elite menu (yes, she is an extremely picky eater).

The Dumpling is the most comprehensive and wide-ranging anthology of traditional recipes available for those who love dumplings in every shape, size, and variety. Wai Hon Chu—who has worked in the in the kitchens of March, Clementine, and The Russian Tea Room, and is creator of El Eden Chocolates, named Best Gourmet Chocolate by New York Press—and Connie Lovett take dumpling aficionados on a culinary tour around the globe, offering more than 100 mouthwatering recipes that cover the full range of dumpling possibilities. (L-R: Wai, Connie, Lauryn, Mara, Sami, J.M. from Harper Collins) Pofessional Grade Photography by Dave Book Description The Dumpling: A Seasonal Guide by Wai Hon Chu and Connie Lovatt is the most comprehensive collection of dumpling recipes ever produced. Discovering that dumplings—as a category of food—have never been properly defined, Chu and Lovatt developed a definition that takes into account the ingredients, cooking methods, and shapes that most commonly define dumplings, not just in a particular region or culture, but around the world. "A dumpling is a portion of dough, batter, or starchy plant fare, solid or filled, that is cooked through wet heat, and is not a strand or a ribbon" This exciting collection shows us that not only are pot stickers, pierogis, and shao mai dumplings but so too are tamales, steamed cakes, and steamed breads. From Chickpea Dumplings in a Tomato Sauce (India) to Leaf-Wrapped Rice Packages Stuffed with Peanuts and Sausage (China), from Chocolate Tamales (Mexico) to a "Napkin" Bread Dumpling with Cherries (Austria), from Cloud-Shaped Bread Buns (Tibet) to Potato Dumplings with Cabbage Layers (Hungary), dumplings, whether steamed or simmered, are as fun to make as they are to eat. A truly passionate exploration of every dumpling type imaginable, The Dumpling contains dessert varieties, dumplings for gifts or entertaining, dozens of vegetarian and vegan options, fast and easy dumplings, as well as 21 pages of step-by-step dumpling making-illustrations. Arranged by month so as to encourage all of us to cook dumplings seasonally and year round, The Dumpling contains a recipe for every taste bud, table, and occasion. Chapters 10, 11, and 12 October No-Fuss Potato Dumplings • Spiced Carrot Pudding • Collard Greens with Corn Dumplings • Chicken Paprika with Dumplings • Bean Soup with Tiny Dumplings • Chickpea "Fish" in a Spicy Onion Sauce • Bacon and Sage Roly Poly • Daikon Cake • Cheddar Cheese and Potato Pierogi • Lentil and Onion Pierogi • Potato "Tamales" Stuffed with Chicken and Jalapeno • Beef-Stuffed Plantain Balls in a Cassava-Corn Soup November Dumplings and Cocky’s Joy • "Napkin" Bread Dumpling • Turkey Stew with Stuffing Dumplings • Cranberry Pudding • Lord Randall’s Pudding, An Apricot Dessert • Sticky Toffee Pudding • Potato Dumplings with Crouton Centers • Country Cabbage Soup with Large Cornmeal Dumplings • Philadelphia Pepperpot Soup with Dumplings • Large Beef- and Spinach-Filled Dumplings in Beef Broth • Dumplings Stuffed with Pears, Figs, and Chocolate • Pumpkin and Lentil Ravioli with Browned Butter and Rosemary • "Little Ear" Dumplings Stuffed with Mushrooms in a Beet Soup December Root Vegetable Bread Dumplings • Clootie Dumpling • Starchy Coconut Stew with Slippery Rice Balls • Guava Duff • Potato Dumplings with Cabbage Layers • John in the Sack • Classic Christmas Pudding • Chocolate Tamales • Siberian Meat Dumplings • Chestnut Ravioli with Sage Butter Sauce • Chicken-Filled Dumplings in an Escarole Soup • Dumplings Stuffed with "Stewed" Breadcrumbs My Review: This cookbook has the recipes organized by the months of the year. A great idea would be to try at least one recipe from the current month. This way, the longer you have the book, the more dumplings you will taste. Lets face it, if you are buying this, you enjoy dumplings, so why not broaden your menu? There are many different types of dumplings, dropped, rolled, stuffed and wrapped. In addition, the folding techniques are the envelope fold, half moon, pleated half moon, candy wrapper and standing half moon. It may sound difficult, but if I can do it, you can too! I enjoyed the pan fried dumplings stuffed with chicken and mushrooms. You can make your own dough, or cheat and use the dumpling wrappers. There is a dough recipe included with this dish.  It was very easy to prepare, the only change I made to the recipe was I used chicken breast instead of thighs. I found that you can substitute items on many of the recipes inside this book to your own taste. It wasn't very time consuming to prepare this dish, great for those nights when you want a home cooked meal, but you don't have a lot of time to invest. There is also a variety of recipes for desserts, soups, and sauces. Vegetarian and Vegan dishes as well. I haven't tried all the dishes, but I did read over most of this book, and I can't wait to whip up my next batch of dumplings. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a delicious dumpling, or wants to broaden their cooking skills and try some new ideas. Bon Appetite!

 MARA

"Sunday Scoop" The Gang's Weekly Column

SUNDAY SCOOP

Hello All!

Old or New, welcome to our weekly column where we talk about anything and everything we want to.  It's just a place for The Lateiner Gang to get some news, info, random thoughts, or just about anything we want communicated to you all on a weekly basis.  This week's "Sunday Scoop" will be brief as we have a ton of reading to do before while we come to the homestretch of the Mega Contest.

First of all, it's been a while since we talked about this, and we have picked up a few new followers recently, so we want to remind you all that we are totally into BUTTON SWAPPING.  If you are new to our site, or even old and have not yet done so, let us know if you have a review site with a button.  We will kindly put yours up if you kindly put ours up :o)  We used to have a list of all of the sites we followed, but it started getting way too long and we decided that since soon enough everyone will have a button, that was our new way of identifying the sites we visit.  Again, if you have a button on your site, and either have already done so or would like put ours up, please email us at tlgbrs@gmail.com with your site's address and you will find your button up soon after!

 

Next on the agenda, our contest.  With just under 2 weeks to go until the big giveaway, we have seen a super response from all of you out there.  We are going to announce a MINI CONTEST that we thought would be fun for us as well as fun for you!  Ok, here's what you have to do.  For all of you that have blogged about our contest somewhere, either on your site, twitter, facebook etc., you are ahead of game a bit.  The contest will run from this "Sunday Scoop" until next Sunday's, where we will announce the winner OR winners depending on how good a job you guys do.  We want you to step it up a notch and are willing to reward you for doing so.  Here is what you have to do:

1. Blog, post, tweet, go door to door, walk around wearing a giant sign, sky write, or do whatever you would like about our contest

2. Make it a point to tell people to head over and sign up for the contest AND REMIND THEM TO MENTION THAT YOU SENT THEM! (Also remind them that they must follow us to be eligible to win any prizes)

3. To be eligible, you must send a minimum of 5 people who sign up to the site, so a bit of work will be required on your part, but not that much.

4. The person who sends the most new people to our site wins a special book that we have been holding on to and have been itching to give away.  Now, The Lateiner Gang recognizes hard work when we see it, and since things can ALWAYS change around here, we might just consider having more than one winner if we see a solid effort.  

5. By early Sunday evening since we usually do the "Scoop" around this time, comment here with the number of people you have sent our way. It's that easy! 

6. Last and finally, if you have any questions, as always you can email us at tlgbrs@gmail.com

Speaking of contest winners, the winners from last weeks random drawing have books that should be arriving later on this week hopefully.  We got a new shipment of books in this past week from a few pubs and have your books packed and ready to be shipped out tomorrow.  We were hoping that a new shipment came and it did, so WOO HOO the books are on their way!

We have a cool lineup of books that we have been reading (including Lauryn and Sami, which have been MIA working hard since school started.  Also, both have earned perfect report cards, so we are not upset that they have gone MIA on reading for pleasure for a while).  We are going to try and get up as many reviews as we can in the next 2 weeks, giving you guys more shots at entering, because you know, the more the merrier!

Also, we found this really cool contest that can get you a FREE KINDLE!  All you have to do is click this link and sign up to win.  We entered and thought it would be cool if you had a shot at it too! 
CLICK HERE TO ENTER TO WIN YOUR VERY OWN FREE KINDLE!

If there is any questions you may have or anything you want to ask any of the Gang, feel free to email us at tlgbrs@gmail.com  We will be happy to get right back to you.

To conclude, you should know by now that the Gang are die hard Yankee fans.  Well, there is not much to say.  Our boys have done it again!  Yes, the New York Yankees are the 2009 World Series Champions!  Way to go Yanks!!

THE LATEINER GANG

Book Review: "Alphas" by Lisi Harrison

THOUSANDS APPLIED. ONE HUNDRED GOT IN. ONLY ONE WILL WIN.

Eccentric billionaire Shira Brazille founded the super-exclusive Alpha Academy on exotic Alpha Island to nurture the next generation of exceptional dancers, writers, musicians, and inventors. It's a dream come true for one hundred lucky girls, but those not measuring up will be sent home at any time for any reason. The one left standing will win worldwide fame.  Who will it be?

SKYE HAMILTON

Known for her dance moves and ability to make super fast connections with boys, Skye plans on taking the alphas by storm-and lip kissing all 5 of Shira's hot sons.

ALLIE A. ABBOTT

Is one little initial away from superstardom. So when Allie J. Abbot's invitation to Alpha Academy arrives at her doorsteps, she does what any crafty girl would: commits identity theft. Can she keep up the charade?

CHARLIE DEERY

Beta-for-life Charlie is offered a last-minute place at the Academy, but there's an admission condition: dumping her boyfriend-Shira's son. It's hard to claw her way up when ninety-nine girls are waiting to sink their claws into her superhawt ex....

IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED, YOU'RE NOT AN ALPHA.

MY REVIEW:

Ok, I know what you are thinking.... Dave could not be reviewing this. Perhaps one of the girls made a mistake and signed on under his name.  Well surprise, it's me, Dave.  I happen to be thumbing through some of the books we got the latter part of this week, and saw a few copies of this one sitting there.  I always pick up a book to check it out regardless of what it is.  I was not in the mood for deep reading and for the fun of it, decided to check out a chapter or two for fun.  I kind of just started reading it, and the next thing I knew, about two hours later the book was done.  Believe it or not, it actually held my attention and wasn't really that girly as you's think.  I mean, give me a break... there were 5 boys in the book!

Anyway, now that I got past that, I actually really enjoyed reading this.  By the ending as well as a bit of research on the author, it was obviously a first in a multi book series.  The book is one I would suggest for light, fun reading in which you are looking for an enjoyable, quick read.  What really kept me going was that "Alpha Island" was futuristic and had a ton of awesome tech gadgets.  Basically the whole island was futuristic in ALL of it's technology.  The coolest was the A-Pod, a futuristic cousin of the I-Pod.  Sort of a "does it all" type of gadget, one cool feature that I can totally see people using in the future, especially the teenage girl or guy for that matter is that you can point your A-Pod at anyone else who has one, click a button, and that person's profile comes up.  I thought that was pretty neat.

So, what's the story??  Well, as stated above, 100 of the world's most talented girls **and 5 boys...I will keep adding that part in :o) ** comes to Alpha Island to basically compete for the ultimate prize.  Shira, who has made gazillions of dollars and basically owns just as many companies, inventions, and patents will give the will make the winner's dreams come true, giving them anything and everything they want.  With that said, the story really floats around the 5 main female characters, Skye, Charlie, Allie, Renee, and Triple Threat.  Also, a major part of the book does revolve around Shira's sons, but mostly one named Darwin.

Darwin and Charlie have been together ever since they were little and love each other dearly.  Charlie's mom "Bee" was Shira's right hand woman, so Charlie and Darwin spent nearly all of their lives together.  When someone backs out of the Academy at the last minute, Shira allows Charlie to take her spot instead of being shipped off to boarding school in New Jersey (HEY!! WHAT'S SO BAD ABOUT BEING IN NEW JERSEY????).  The only catch is that her mom must resign because one rule is that no relatives of employees can participate and ALSO Charlie must give up her relationship with Darwin.  The catch on that one- she can not tell Darwin that she really still loves him more than anything and that his mom is behind the break up.

Now that you got the background, the rest i'll go through rather quickly as I do think this would be a fun book to read and what do you know, we have a few to give away!  The girls arrive on the island in their own personal jets that are custom tailored to their personalities and lifestyles.  The island, built in the shape of an "@" sign is enclosed in a dome.  Shira controls everything from the glass bubble railway system, to the hovering discs that the teachers float on to even the weather!  Charlie and the other 4 major players here all live in one little glass sort of condo, called the "Jackie O".  This first book in the series has a few different angles.  First of all, Shira has them all taking classes to better themselves, to understand that although they were the best at what they did back home, here they were all talented and all had flaws that could be improved upon.

The other part of the story revolves around Charlie and how she reacts to one of her own roommates, Allie J. (really an imposter named Allie A.), who writes music and is one of the most celeb girls on the island. The problem is that Charlie breaks up with Darwin at the beginning of the book, and well, Darwin happens to love Allie J.'s work.  The obvious here occurs with a love triangle between Charlie, Darwin, and Allie J. when they are all put into some of the same classes and are all stuck on a relatively small island.  The drama does have it's fun parts, as Shira's # 1 rule is that none of the girls can even think of getting together with any of her sons.  That is not the purpose of them being there, and for now they must block out boys from their thoughts (and desires).  Well, 100 girls, 5 "gorgeous, filthy rich" guys and drama is going to go down.

So, knowing that this will be the first on a series, the book sort of ends where I'd say a stand alone novel would probably be 1/5 of the way done.  By the end, 1 of the 5 main chicks has been sent home already, Allie J.'s true identity of Allie A. is found out, another of the 5 is injured and sitting on the "sidelines" for a bit, and well, let's just say that Charlie is not overly happy with the Darwin/Allie situation.  There is a bunch more things that go on in the book, from someone being accused of being a spy, to Charlie's hidden talent and accomplishment that even Shira doesn't know about to a ton of cool technological thing I left out that actually got me hoping to see them come to life in the future.  The A-Pod, which also doubles as a "texting" monster with firewalls and all, has so many features that I can actually see it being real in about 10-20 years and it got me anxious to get my hands on one!

Again, book 1 of a series, a fun read that I can't see anyone not thoroughly enjoying. For me, I was happy that I read it. As long as I can remember to get them, I will definitely continue on with the rest of the series as I am anxious to see more gadgets, explore more of the island that we didn't get to see in this book, and selfishly watch to see if Charlie eventually lands Darwin back.

DAVE

An Interview With J. Scott Savage, Author of the "Farworld" series

I had the pleasure of interviewing J. Scott Savage, an extremely talented author of the "Farworld" series a few months back.  The intentions were to post the interview along with our review of "Farworld: Land Keep" however there were some delays in receiving the book and since we are only reviewing our contest's sponsor publishers throughout the duration of the contest, we are unable to give you a review at this time.  However, we did review book 1 in the series, "Water Keep" and absolutely loved the book.  Scott was kind enough to give me an interview, and I didn't think it was fair to make it wait any longer.  The review of "Land Keep" will come after the end of the contest.  So, without further delay, here is what Scott had to say:

TLG: The Farworld series is very well written, engaging, and book 1, "Water Keep" had me hooked the entire time.  Book 2 of the series, "Land Keep" just recently hit the shelves. Where did the concept for the series come from?

JSS:  Well first, don't to point out the $1,000 check I am paying you for all the nice things you are saying. Isn't that the law now. (I'm kidding about the check, fellow bloggers. Please don't start invoicing me!) I'm so glad you found it engaging though. I like to say that my writing style is just-one-more-chapter-please. I want my books to be hard to put down. As a

writer, I almost always start with character and let the story expand from there. Until I care about my protagonist, it's hard to see the whole picture. I really wanted this series to be about finding the magic inside all of us.

TLG:  So the Farworld series will contain 4 books in all as far as we know. When you started writing Water Keep, did you already have the entire plot of the series mapped out or do you create as you go?

JSS:  Hah! Trick question. There are actually five books in the series. Water Keep, Land Keep, Air Keep, Fire Keep, and Shadow Keep. Without giving too much away, Shadow Keep is about what happens when you leap before you look. I definitely knew the big picture of the series when I presented it to Shadow Mountain. I also knew lots of little details, but definitely not all of them. I really like when a series sets things up early and then reveals the things that were only hinted at in later books. It's hard to do that if you don't know where the series is going.

TLG:  Are you currently working on or is anything in the works for when Farworld is complete? Any plans or ideas for a stand alone novel in the future?

JSS:  Lots and lots! I always have tons of things in the works. Probably the hottest one right now is a YA series called Demon Spawn about a teenage demon who lives in hell and is recruited to help an angel get back to the city of Judgment. It ends up being not exactly what she expects.

TLG:  Every author has a goal in mind for their book or series. What is your goal for how many copies of Land keep or for that matter, the entire Farworld Series you would like to see sold/printed?

JSS:  Well my main goal is to continue expanding my readership with each book. Exact numbers are such a crazy thing. So many thing can affect your sales, marketing (or lack thereof), similar books that take off, even a particular endorsement. It's hard to control any of that. What I can control is making each book so much better than the previous one that readers really begin to spread the word. I still believe that word of mouth is the best long term way to build up a base of readers who will stick with you for the long haul.

TLG:  When you write, do you follow any format or do you just put the pen to the paper and go with the flow?

JSS:  I don't know if you'd call it a format or not, but I try to write what I'd like to read. If I'm excited to write what comes next, readers will usually be excited as well. I never start a book until I know the end of it, and I try to make sure every chapter has a high point for at least one of the story lines. I can't stand chapters that are only there to link two scenes to each other. I want every chapter to have at least some "WOW" factor to it.

TLG:  What do you do when you are not writing?

JSS:  Honestly? Think about writing. My family knows when my head is in another world. I start staring aimlessly. I also love anything that involves doing things with my wife and kids. We are huge Disney fanatics. We like camping and games and traveling. And I am a voracious reader. I honestly read ten to twenty books a month.

TLG:  Please tell everyone something interesting about you that possibly no one has asked you about before.

JSS:  Well for one thing, I lived in your neck of the woods for three year, New Providence, NJ. Also I was nearly arrested for disturbing the peace my senior year in high school. In involved leading a team of searchers for the "golden banana" a historic artifact of mythological proportions. Long story.

TLG:  The Farworld series is a YA/middle grade reader/Fantasy series. Are you interested in trying a different Genre, or do you just feel at home there?

JSS:  Oh, yeah. I've actually written a high tech thriller and a mystery series as Jeffrey S Savage. But this is my first fantasy series and my first attempt at writing for younger readers. I love the YA world as well, but will probably stick to the fantasy area. (For now!)

TLG:  Any favorite authors/books? What have you read recently that you loved? What do you plan to read in the near future?

JSS:  I have so many favorite authors. Stephen King, Garth Nix, Neil Gaiman, Peter Straub, SE Hinton. And I'm a big John Steinbeck fan. I just finished The Giver, The Seventh Tower Series, and Anansi Boys. I also recently read the Uglies series and Catching Fire. Can't wait for the new Stephen King book.

TLG:  Our signature question! What would you, J. Scott Savage, do for a klondike bar??

JSS:  Well I am a big, big, fan of Klondike bars. Especially the ones with the extra thick chocolate. So it's really more like what wouldn't I do? I would definitely eat a live cricket, while attempting to cross the Provo River (which isn't all that wide to be honest) on a unicycle.

TLG:  Scott...thanks so much for the interview! I really did love Farworld and I couldn't put Water Keep down. I am so looking forward to reading and reviewing Land Keep.  After the contest is over, it is a top priority for me!  I think you are extremely talented and hope that you share much more of your imagination with us in the years to come. I wish you the best of luck with the recent release and you have a fan right here for as long as you continue to write.

JSS:  You're welcome. Tell the whole Lateiner gang hi for me.

Book Review: "Hush, Hush" by Becca Fitzpatrick

NORA GRAY IS RESPONSIBLE AND SMART
and not inclined to be reckless. Her first mistake was falling for Patch. Patch has a past that could be called anything but harmless. The best thing he ever did was fall for Nora.


After getting paired with Patch in biology, all Nora wants to do is stay away from him, but he always seems to be two steps ahead of her. She can feel his eyes on her even when he is nowhere around. She feels him nearby even when she is alone in her bedroom. And when her attraction can be denied no longer, she learns the secret about who Patch is and what led him to her. Despite all the questions she has about his past, in the end, there may be only one question they can ask each other: how far are you willing to fall?

My Review:

Well, let me start by telling you, and those of you who know my style by now, know that this is not at all my type of book.  Far from it.  We got an ARC to review from Simon and Schuster and it was tagged for Lauryn.  A "Twilight" junkie, this one was perfect for her.  It was on her schedule for this weekend's reading.  Halloween, along with first year Jr. High homework knocked this right off the list of things to do this weekend. I was waiving the book in the air telling her that if she spent less time after school playing around and more time doing her schoolwork, she would have had time to read this.  I happen to take a peek at the back cover, which led me to flip through some pages, which led me to read the first few pages, which finally led me to complete 391 pages over 6 hours of trick-or-treating, driving around (passenger) doing errands, and dinner at a friend's house.  I COULD NOT put the book down. Seriously, I was hooked.  The book is a NY Times Best Seller and first time author Becca Fitzpatrick deserves every last bit of it.  Packed with just the right amount of well, everything, the book was great!

With not too many lead character's, the story revolves around Nora, her best friend Vee, Patch, a fallen Angel, Elliot, Jules, and Dabria.  Nora meets Patch for the first time in biology class when the teacher, "Coach" decides that he is going to switch up the class seating, separating Nora and Vee for a project.  Patch just happens to land next to Nora, and the major portion of the assignment is to find out as much as you can about your partner.  Immediately Patch starts to freak out Nora by knowing way too much about her inner thoughts, but at the same time, attracts her to him just as much.  Over time, both the "freaking out" as well as the attraction continues to grow stronger.

As soon as Nora meets Patch, mayhem strikes loose.  Someone is out to kill Nora, and strange occurrences continue to happen, or at least in her mind they do.  Nora finds herself in the presence of Patch more and more, most of the time unexpectedly. In the mean time, her BF Vee has the hots for this guy Jules, and selfishly continues to push his best bud Elliot on Nora so the four of them can spend time together. All the while, the strange, horrible things that are happening keep getting blamed on (Patch by Vee) to get her to stay away from him and gravitate towards Elliot, again for selfish reasons (Jules).

Several times throughout the book someone tries to kill Nora (and ends up killing or hurting other people they think are Nora).  Nora can not figure out who or why.  The problem is that it could be Patch, as she knows that there is definitely a dark side to him, possibly Elliot who Nora finds out transferred to her school right after being questioned for the murder of his old girlfriend at the private school he attended, or someone else.  Whomever it is, they are wearing a ski mask, so they can not be identified.

There is SO much that I am leaving out, as I usually do.  I can not get myself to write much more here, because I feel like I will be giving too much away, and I really think this one should  be read asap.  I will conclude by telling you a few things that do happen ,but simply leave out the "who's and why's."  Towards the end of the book, Nora does find out who is trying to kill her and why.  I definitely thought that I should have figured that out, but Becca leaves the door open for anyone, so of course I didn't have that one pinned.  She also finds out what she had been deeply desiring to know throughout the entire story.... who is Patch, what is Patch, and why did he fall into her life.  The good news is that there will be a book number two, which Becca leads you right into.  I guess I can tell you that both Nora and Patch are in book number two. The rest you need to figure out yourself.

What was great, for me at least, and kept me turning page after page was there was not too much of anything in the book- love, hate, good, bad, murder, blood, or anything else that has prevented me from reading this type of book before.  I felt that each had just the right amount of it sprinkled into the story.  I would be willing to promise that this one is worth getting and that you will not be disappointed. Again, for those of you who know my style, for me to say that about a book that does not fit my normal read, that is a lot coming from me.  I hope you take my advice and get this one.

I have included the book trailer below, as perhaps it will give you a bit more of a sense of what the book is about.  I always hate giving too much away, and tried hard here not to.  In case you are looking for a bit more, the trailer should cover it.  Enjoy, and if anyone else has read "Hush, Hush", please feel free to fill any holes I might have left.  

Dave

CONTEST CONTINUATION- NEW ENTRIES AND ADDITIONAL ENTRIES TO GO UNDER THIS POST

CONTEST ENTRY CONTINUATION:

NEW AND ADDITIONAL ENTRIES TO GO UNDER THIS POST

Thanks to all of you for entering the contest! As the contest has been a success so far, it appears that you guys almost filled up the 200 comment max.  With about 3 weeks left to go, we are asking that going forward, new entries as well as additional entries be done here. We will put up a reminder under the old post as well.  Thanks and check out this weeks "Sunday Scoop" right below this post for a list of some "inter-contest" book winners and see if you are on the list!

JUST A REMINDER: YOU MUST BE A FOLLOWER OF OUR SITE, (AND YES, WE CHECK) TO BE ELIGIBLE TO WIN ANY PRIZE FROM OUR CONTEST.  A "FOLLOWER" MEANS THAT ON THE LIST TITLED "FOLLOWERS" ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE SITE, YOU MUST BE ACTIVELY ON IT.  ALSO, AS STATED IN THE ORIGINAL CONTEST POST RULES, WHICH WE SUGGEST YOU READ, THE CONTEST IS ONLY OPEN TO U.S. RESIDENTS AND THOSE WHO HAVE A U.S. ADDRESS THAT YOUR BOOKS CAN BE SENT TO IF YOU WIN.  A LINK TO THE RULES CAN BE FOUND HERE:

http://thelateinergangbookreviewspot.blogspot.com/2009/10/mega-contest-begins-celebrate-countdown.html

 IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE EMAIL US AT TLGBRS@GMAIL.COM.

Thanks!

The Lateiner Gang

"Sunday Scoop" The Gang's Weekly Column

SUNDAY SCOOP

Hello All!

This week's Scoop is going to be short and sweet, but some important info will be here, so please READ THIS if you happen to be cruising around the site.

To start, yesterday we promised we would have some WINNERS around here and well, promises have to be kept!  We picked our winners a bit differently this time.  We choose from the people who have left comments since after our last "Sunday Scoop", and are going to send you each a surprise book!  WE DID SEND AN EMAIL TO THOSE OF YOU WHO'S EMAIL ADDRESS WE COULD FIND, BUT IF YOUR NAME IS ON THE WINNER'S LIST AND YOU DID NOT GET AN EMAIL, PLEASE SEND US AN EMAIL TO TLGBRS@GMAIL.COM WITH YOUR MAILING ADDRESS AND YOUR ONLINE NAME SO WE KNOW WHO YOU ARE. 

ALSO VERY IMPORTANT....YOU MUST, AND WE WILL REPEAT, MUST BE A FOLLOWER OF OUR SITE TO BE ELIGIBLE TO WIN A PRIZE. THIS IS NOT A NEW RULE, IT IS STATED PLENTY OF PLACES. SO IF YOU DO NOT SEE YOUR NAME HERE, IT IS BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT A CURRENT FOLLOWER.  ALSO A REMINDER THAT IF YOU ENTERED THE CONTEST AND ARE NOT A FOLLOWER (THAT MEANS YOU MUST BE INCLUDED IN THE LIST ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE SITE TITLED "FOLLOWERS") THEN PLEASE FOLLOW OR YOU WILL NOT BE ELIGIBLE FOR ANY OF OUR PRIZES. OK THE WINNERS OF A SURPRISE BOOK FOR THIS WEEK ARE:

LADYSTORM

LAURA

BRIZMUS

LOGANKSTEWART

MAGENTA

THEBOOKVIXEN

ANN DIANA DINH

FREDAMANS

DEB

Again, if you did not receive an email, we could not find your email address, so send us an email to tlgbrs@gmail.com with your mailing address as well as your inline name so we know who you are.  Also, we might wait a few days to send your books out as we are expecting a shipment from a few publishers and might send you one of those books that come!

Now that we got that squared away, we are going to make this a quiet Scoop.  Besides the usual going on, the Gang had a fairly busy week.  A ton of new books came in from publishers for the contest and more are on their way!  

SINCE THE CONTEST HAS BEEN VERY SUCCESSFUL SO FAR, WE HAVE ALMOST REACHED THE MAX # OF COMMENTS ALLOWED PER POST. DO NOT FRET, AS THERE WILL BE MORE OF YOU ENTERING AS WELL AS SOME OF YOU COMING BACK TO GET YOUR EXTRA ENTRIES OVER THE NEXT FEW WEEKS, WE WILL MAKE A NEW POST RIGHT ABOVE THIS ONE AS A "CONTINUATION" OF THE CONTEST.  LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS THERE AND WE WILL JUST USE BOTH POSTS WHEN PICKING OUR WINNERS AT THE END OF THE CONTEST.

Our pinstripe boys (the YANKEES) are currently taking a shot at going up 3 games to 1 over the Phillies in the World Series, so the Gang is going to go back to cheering on their home team!  As always, keep your eyes open as we have some reviews that will be posted this week that are a tad bit "different" than our usual ones.  Of course we will continue to review the usual, but we thought we would read a few different kinds of books over the last few days for fun and share them with you.

Don't forget to visit us this coming Thursday when the Gang goes over to Whole Foods and learns how to make dumplings from Master Chef Wai Hon Chu!  We will be sharing our experience as well as giving away a signed book form the event "The Dumpling" to one lucky winner! Also, coming this week, we will spotlight Barnes and Noble's soon to be released E-Reader, the "NOOK" which we are super excited about and can not wait to get our hands on.  Unfortunately, it will not be out until the end of November, but that's ok.... waiting is half the fun!

That's all for this week. Thanks for checking us out and hope to see you soon!

The Lateiner Gang

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

The Lateiner Gang is wishing all of you a Happy Halloween!

Be safe, but have fun! It's Saturday, so you have ALL DAY to go collect as much candy as you can! Dentists have been waiting for this day all year!

What are you being for Halloween?

Remember to go back to our post from a few days ago and submit your (or your kids) Halloween pictures!  We are going to be giving away a prize (or more) for cool costumes!

Also, check back tomorrow as it will be a "prize" day.  We feel like giving away some books tomorrow.  Also, don't forget that if you leave a comment on a review, go add your extra entry for the contest!

We hope you enjoy your day!

David, Mara, Lauryn, and Sami

Book Review: "Gone" by Michael Grant

IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE.

EVERYONE DISAPPEARS.

GONE.

EVERYONE EXCEPT FOR THE YOUNG.

Teens. Middle schoolers. Toddlers. But not a single adult. No teachers, no cops, no doctors, no parents. Gone, too, are the phones, internet, and television. There is no way to get help.

Hunger threatens. Bullies rule. A sinister creature lurks. Animals are mutating. And the teens themselves are changing, developing new talents-unimaginable, dangerous, deadly powers-that grow stronger by the day. 

It's a terrifying new world. Sides are being chosen and war is imminent.

The first in a breathtaking saga about teens battling each other and their darkest selves, GONE is a page-turning thriller that will make you look at the world in a whole new way.

My Review:

Hopefully by now you guys have heard of this series.  Book 2 which is out already called "Hunger" is screaming for me to read it, but you guys know my rule... no two books in a series back to back.  Aarrgghh.... why did I ever have to promise myself that?!?!  So, hopefully you are getting the point that this one goes on my "DO NOT TOUCH UNLESS YOU ARE ME" bookshelf.  Still not sure how much I liked it?? When the Gang met Michael a few weeks ago and I heard what the book had in store for me, I already knew this was going to be a cool one.  I was 100% completely hooked after "Gone" kept me up at night like few books ever have.  In 3 nights, the book was completed.  Night 1-sleep at 6:00 am,  night 2-sleep at 4:30 am, and night 3-bed at 4:00 am.  Oh yeah, and I get up for work at 7:00 am.

So, here is the scoop and as usual, no spoilers, just the story line... Most of the book takes place in a tiny town called Perdido Beach and a private school called Coates academy as well as the surrounding area including a desert and some woods and the nuclear plant.  Everything is honkey-dorey and then right smack on the first page it happens, everyone over the age of 15 disappears- just vanishes. Talk about an opener.  It got my attention pretty quick.  Of course there is a reason why everyone over 14 vanishes, but telling you that would not be fair.  The other thing that goes on throughout the book is that if you were 14 when it started, and your 15th birthday comes along, well you just vanish as well.  The other quick fact before I get into the "meat" is that there is a border, a wall, which cuts through everything in it's path and is as high as the eye can see. This "wall" traps everyone inside it from leaving and everyone outside (if there is anyone outside) from entering.

With no adults and trapped within a zone, my first thought was "Lord of the Flies."  It did stick in my mind as jobs had to be established and maintained, food had to be rationed, some sort of law/justice system had to be put into place and a few other similarities.  There is a handful of main characters- the Perdido kids, led by Sam including Quinn, Astrid, her autistic, yet powerful unbeknownst to himself little brother Petey and Edilio to the Coates kids led by Caine including Drake, Diana, Computer Jack, Howard, and Orc.   Then you have Lana, who is kind of neither and does play a significant role as a "healer".  Another significant character, who happens to be a talking coyote (he was given the ability to do this by "the darkness", who I am not discussing at all) leads packs of coyotes and desires the knowledge to destroy all humans.  Shortly before people started to vanish, there was something strange going on, children developing powers such as super speed, the ability to levitate and move objects and people, a strange and powerful light beam shooting from people's hands, teleportation, and a few others that i'm leaving out intentionally.  So really there are 2 mysteries going on here.  First, what caused the FAYZ (Fallout Alley Youth Zone) and second, where did these strange powers, which are measured by a few kids who can "read" people's strength on a scale similar to that of the reception bars on your cell.  By the end of the book, you know a bit about who and/or what started these situations, but not totally why or how.  I believe the series is going to be 5 or 6 books so there is plenty of room to figure that stuff out later.

The problem that occurs, besides the expected, like food starting to run out, people just vanishing on their 15th birthday, is really that the FAYZ ends up with 2 groups.  One leader, (Sam from Perdido) being the intelligent, good natured guy who only takes somewhat of a lead because he believes it can help his people who are looking up to him for answers to the other leader, (Caine from Coates) who is totally into the power trip (by the way, both happen to be at least a 4 bar, which is the highest power ranking detected so far) so much that he even wants to take over the Perdido crowd and be the # 1 all around.

With Sam and Caine's time running out until their 15th B-Days (which happen to be pretty close to each other, hmmm...), and the two of them, the leaders, trying to figure out what is going on, why it's going on, how things happened, and what the future holds for everyone and the FAYZ itself is a the chunk of the book.  The conflicts between both sides builds throughout and leads to a sort of war at the end between both sides.  The book ends a tiny bit after Sam and Caine's 15th birthday.

Now, I left a whole lot out intentionally (the book is appx. 550 pages), but I will tell you this... the author Michael Grant, with expert precision, had surprises and new developments around every corner, exactly where you'd least expect them but most hoped for them.  This is what made the book so hard to put down and kept me up all night.  Every time I told myself, "ok, right after this chapter, I'm done until tomorrow" there was something that shocking and exciting that I just kept going until I passed out.  The character's were each so unique and thorough, you developed feelings for each, and held emotions for them as well.  Did I forget to mention what you had probably guessed by now, that there is a tiny bit of romance involved?  I will tell you just this... Sam and Astrid, and Caine and Diana.

One of the top books I have read all year, Michael basically said when we met him that there is much more to come and it only gets better.  I can not wait to dive into "Hunger" but I will wait, as long as I can hold off! Once again, if you have read "Gone", please feel free to add your thoughts and anything else you want into the comments.  The books are widely popular, so I was hoping there would be a few out there who have something to say about this.  My most important from me--- read "Gone" asap, you won't be sorry!

Dave

ATTENTION MOM'S AND ALL FOOD BUFFS....Live Event on Thurs 11/5/2009 "The Dumpling: A Seasonal Guide" by Wai Hon Chu

 

Next Thursday, November 5th, 2009 Mara and I will be attending an educational cooking event on how to create our own "dumplings".  We were invited by a wonderful publicist at Harper Collins ( I don't know if I can say her name, so thanks J.M.!) to what should be a really fun hour of learning how to stuff, roll, seal, and cook different kinds of delicious dumplings.  The event will be hosted at Whole Foods, one that happens to be about 2 miles from our house.  (Woo Hoo!)

The class will be taught by author and master dumpling chef, Wai Hon Chu.  We are actually really excited to go and will take some pictures there for you as well as hopefully coming back with some great ideas that we can share.  Wai, author of "The Dumpling: A Seasonal Guide" is no stranger to the kitchen and is not just a "dumpling" specialist.

Wai completed his culinary training at The Art Instituter of New York and has worked in the kitchens of March, Clementine, and The Russian Tea Room.  In 1999, he launched El Eden Chocolates, which grew into a Manhattan storefront offering more than 25 truffle varieties nationwide.  His handmade chocolates garnered rave reviews from The New York Times, Food & Wine, Chocolatier, Fortune Small Business, New York Magazine, Time Out New York, National Public Radio, and others.

Chu was born in Hong Kong and moved to New York City's Chinatown where his father worked as a butcher and a restaurant chef for more than 23 years.  He currently teaches cooking classes at the Institutes of Culinary Education, The Natural Gourmet Institute for Food and Health, and the Bowery Culinary Center at Whole Foods Market.

To Check out the book and visit Wai Hon Chu's official "dumpling" site click HERE.

We will report back after the event, so if you are interested in hearing more from us when we come back from the class, drop us a comment and let us know!  IF WE SEE SOME INTEREST FROM YOU GUYS HERE, WE MAY JUST HAVE TO GET OUR FRIEND AT HARPER "J.M." (WHO WILL BE THERE WITH US) TO GET A SIGNED COPY OF 'THE DUMPLING" FOR US TO GIVE AWAY HERE!

DAVE AND MARA